Academic Dependency and Neoliberalism: Emerging Trends in Tourism Studies from a Latin American Lens

Abstract

The present essay is a critical study that reflects on the main intellectual debates concerning neoliberalism and academic inequality in Latin American tourism studies. To this end, three stages are proposed that combine a dual analytical dimension: one epistemological and the other sociological. First, key aspects for considering and addressing the idea of neoliberalism in the social sciences of the Global South are explored. The second axis includes an analysis of dependency within tourism studies. Finally, the transformations in how cultural and tourism studies are thought and conducted from a Latin American perspective are examined. Through this approach, the aim is to contribute to the reflexivity of the field by problematizing not only the cognitive challenges that exist but also the power dynamics at play. This study serves as a non-exhaustive yet necessary invitation to construct new horizons of truth.

Keywords

• tourism studies
• Latin America
• academic dependency
• neoliberalism
• cultural studies