Exploring Transformation Through Travel by Means of the Movie The Way

Year 2023, , 171 - 186, 06.07.2023

Umut Morkoç , Burhan Çınar , Tuğba Pala Morkoç

https://doi.org/10.26650/JECS2022-1130864

Abstract

Transformation through travel is attracting scholarly attention due to its potential to trigger a radical transformation extending beyond the traveler’s unique experience during the trip of a lifetime. As one of the most common ways of encountering the different, tourism can enable people to become aware of their hidden assumptions and make volitional decisions about them, resulting in a transformation. This study aims to understand how transformation takes place through touristic experience, based on Mezirow’s learning theory. To do this, the movie The Way (Emilio Estevez, 2010), which depicts the relationship between touristic experience and the transformation of the individual in an artistically powerful manner, was utilized. To analyze the document that constitutes the data source of the research study, a narrative analysis, and a qualitative research design, was followed. The results of the narrative analysis demonstrated that the representations in the movie coincide strongly with the literature on transformation through travel. It showed that transformation begins with the traveler’s questioning of self or the perceived world, and that the various difficulties experienced, encounters with the different, and going out of one’s comfort zone and habits facilitate transformation through travel. It was also concluded that the authenticity of the touristic experience strengthens its transformative aspect. Thus, the study proposes that in order to strengthen the transformative aspect of the touristic experience, tourists should be offered touristic products and services that contain transformative experiences whose authenticity is preserved.

Keywords

Travel, tourism, transformation, transformative experience, The Way

References

• Berger, P. L., & Luckmann T. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. London: Allen Lane.
• Brown, L. (2009). The transformative power of the international sojourn: An ethnographic study of the international student experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(3), 502-521.
• Brown, L. (2013). Tourism: A catalyst for existential authenticity. Annals of Tourism Research, 40, 176-190.
• Coghlan, A., & Weiler, B. (2018). Examining transformative processes in volunteer tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 21(5), 567–582.
• Cohen, S., & Taylor, L. (1992). Escape attempts. The theory and practice of resistance to everyday life. London: Routledge.
• Council of Europe. (2022). Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/en/web/cultural-routes/the-santiago-de-compostela-pilgrim-routes.
• Devereux, C., & Carnegie, E. (2006). Pilgrimage: Journeying beyond self. Tourism Recreation Research, 31(1), 47-56.
• Estevez, E.; Alexanian, D.; Rodriguez, F. J. (Producer), & Estevez, E. (Director). (2010). The Way [Cinema Film]. Spain: Filmmax.
• Gros, F. (2014). A Philosophy of Walking (John Howe Trans.). London, New York: Verso.
• Jaspers, K. (2010). Felsefe Nedir? (İsmet Zeki Eyuboğlu Trans.). İstanbul: Say Yayınları.
• Kay Smith, M., & Diekmann, A. (2017). Tourism and wellbeing. Annals of Tourism Research, 66, 1–13.
• Kirillova, K., Lehto, X., & Cai, L. (2017a). What triggers transformative tourism experiences? Tourism Recreation Research, 42(4), 498–511.
• Kirillova, K., Lehto, X., & Cai, L. (2017b). Tourism and Existential Transformation: An Empirical Investigation. Journal of Travel Research, 56(5), 638–650.
• Kottler, J. (1997). Travel that can change your life: How to create a transformative experience. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Lean, L. L. (2012). Transformative travel: A mobilities perspective. Tourist Studies, 12(2), 151-172.
• Lee, Y. J., & Woosnam, K. M. (2010). Voluntourist transformation and the theory of integrative cross-cultural adaptation. Annals of Tourism Research, 37(4), 1186–1189.
• Lewis, D. (1988). “What experience teaches” Proceedings of the Russellian Society, University of Sydney, 13: 29–57.
• MacCannel, D. (1973) Staged Authenticity: arrangements of social space in tourism settings. The American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), p. 589-603. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/225585
• MacCannell, D. (1976). The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class. New York: Schocken.
• Mezirow, J. (1994). Understanding transformation theory. Adult Education Quarterly, 44(4), 222–232.
• Morgan, A. (2010). Journeys into transformation: travel to an ‘other’ place as a vehicle for transformative learning. Journal of Transformative Education, 8(4), 246–268.
• Noy, C. (2004). ‘This trip really changed me: Backpackers’ narratives of self change. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 78–102.
• Paul, L. A. (2014). Transformative Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Pine, B. J. & Gilmore, J. H. (2011). The Experience Economy, Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
• Pung, J.M. & Del Chiappa, G. (2020). An exploratory and qualitative study on the meaning of transformative tourism and its facilitators and inhibitors. European Journal of Tourism Research, 24, 2404.
• Pung, J. M., Gnoth, J., & Del Chiappa, G. (2020). Tourist transformation: Towards a conceptual model. Annals of Tourism Research, 81, 102885. Reisinger, Y. (2013). Transformational tourism: Tourist perspectives. Oxford, UK: CABI.
• Rickly-Boyd, J. M. (2012). Lifestyle climbers: Towards existential authenticity. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 17(2), 85–104.
• Sampaio, S., Simoni V. & Isnart, C. (2014). Tourism and transformation: Negotiating metaphors, experiencing change. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 12(2), 93-101.
• Santos, M. C., Ferreira, A., Costa, C., & Santos, J. A. C. (2020). A Model for the development of innovative tourism products: From service to transformation. Sustainability, 12(11), 4362.
• Sheldon, P. J. (2020). Designing tourism experiences for inner transformation. Annals of Tourism Research, 83.
• Smith, J. (2017). Transforming travel: Realising the potential of sustainable tourism. Wallingford, UK: CABI.
• Soulard, J., McGehee, N. & Knollenberg, W. (2020). Developing and testing the transformative travel experience scale (TTES). Journal of Travel Research
• Tasci, A. D. & Godovykh, M. (2021). An empirical modeling of transformation process through trip experiences. Tourism Management, 86, 104332.
• Teoh, M. W., Wang, Y., & Kwek, A. (2021). Conceptualising co-created transformative tourism experiences: A systematic narrative review. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 47, 176–189. doi:10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.03.013.
• Thoreau, H. D. (1862) Walking. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1022/1022-h/1022-h.htm
• United Nations World Tourism Organization (2016), Affiliate Members Global Reports, Volume fourteen –The transformative power of tourism: A paradigm shift towards a more responsible traveller, UNWTO, Madrid.
• Walker, J. (2017). Shame and Transformation in the Theory and Practice of Adult Learning and Education. Journal of Transformative Education. 15(4):357-374. doi:10.1177/1541344617699591
• White, N. R., & White, P. B. (2004). Travel as transition: Identity and place. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 200–218.