Giovanna Bertella
Biographic Data
| ID | 5120495 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Giovanna Bertella |
| GIVEN NAMES | Giovanna |
| FAMILY NAME | Bertella |
| SIGNATURE | BERTELLA G |
| AFFILIATIONS | UiT The Arctic University of Norway |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5530-8588 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 65 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
A modus operandi for sustainable-tourism transformations
In this article, we identify and discuss unifying principles to co-design transformational sustainable-tourism interventions through participatory methodologies. We conduct a meta-ethnographic synthesis of the emerging relevant tourism literature (14 articles), and we propose five methodological requirements that underpin effective interventions for sustainable tourism transformations. The requirements are (1) co-creating actionable knowledge, (2…
Animal ethnography and a relational approach to sustainability
We adopted a collaborative research approach involving two tourism scholars, a biologist and a photojournalist to discuss ethnography and sustainability from a posthuman ecofeminist perspective. We focused on ethnography as a potentially fruitful methodology for supporting justice in wildlife tourism. We reviewed the literature on more-than-human methodologies, including emerging studies on animal ethnography, critical legitimacy and science issu…
The role of participatory movements and organizations in plant-based food diffusion
Purpose The discourse concerning the incentives for protein transition also encompasses movements and organizations; thus, more attention should be given to the role played by initiatives promoted by associations and movements of consumers, producers and activists for achieving protein transition. This paper explores the role of participatory movements in reducing meat consumption to understand how they operate, how they are reshaping the problem…
A virtual dive into ocean conservation and protection
Whale watching provides an opportunity to educate the public about marine conservation and protection, yet it often falls short of this potential and poses an ongoing dilemma as it inherently disturbs the animals. This note discusses Us: The Sea of Sounds, a project that we designed to address challenges by raising awareness about underwater noise pollution and its harmful effects on marine life, especially cetaceans. We adopted immersive and int…
Narrating the soundscape of coastal tourism
This research letter concerns the soundscape along the Norwegian coastline, but the concepts can be applied to most coastal destinations. We wrote this letter in our roles as scholars of tourism and biology as well as members of a non-profit organisation located in northern Norway that is dedicated to science, conservation and the protection of marine mammals. By contrasting a promotional video with an awareness-raising video, we highlight touris…
Animal photojournalism and the animal gaze in tourism research
In this study, we explore the role of animal photojournalism in advancing our understanding and practice of animal in tourism by incorporating the animal gaze. Acknowledging that current literature lacks empirical tools to capture non-human perspectives – and largely reduces animals to passive objects – this study calls for the exploration, conceptualisation, and inclusion of the ‘animal gaze’ in tourism studies. We analyse extant literature in t…
Cross-community enactive research
To respond to the call for broader ways to understand academic engagement in sustainable tourism, I conceptualized a relational practice-based approach, termed cross-community enactive research. Relying on central ideas from the enactive research approach by entrepreneurship scholar Bengt Johannisson, which draws on autoethnography and action research, and the communities of practice theory by educationalist Etienne Wenger, this approach involves…
Reflexive monitoring for sustainable transformations
In this study, we combined reflexive monitoring—a critical assessment, evaluation, and practice-adjustment process—with participatory learning through educational games to advance transformative sustainable tourism methodologies. The methodology was tested in a workshop with tourism practitioners in Norway. Using a constructivist lens, we analysed the narratives participants shared via game artefacts, observations, and debriefings. The tourism pr…
Humour and comics for academic change and well-being
Considering recent calls for change towards a more liveable tourism academia, we combined \ncritical participatory action research with duoethnography to develop The Academic Line—a \nhumorous comic project about academic life. We used traditional theories of humour to leverage \nthe effectiveness of comics as communicative devices and explored how and to what extent our \nproject promoted solidarity, reflexivity, well-being, and change. This stu…
Care-full academic activism for sustainable transformations in tourism
The urgent need for radical changes towards sustainability provides an opportunity to reconsider the epistemology and methodology of tourism research. The present study discusses this opportunity by adopting the concept of deep leverage points for sustainable transformations and an ethic of care perspective. The discussion highlights the vital role that a deep form of reflexivity plays in care-based tourism research that aims at sustainable trans…
The human gaze at animals and the missing animal gaze in tourism studies
This research letter critically reflects on the missing animal gaze in tourism studies and elaborates on the urgency of including it in the discussion about the relationship between human and non-human animals. Drawing on the Foucauldian gaze and on the John Urry’s tourist gaze, we reflect on the unproblematised power imbalance between human and animal gazes that is inherent in tourist representations. Inspired by posthuman thinking, we use featu…
‘Spirituality in practice’ in sustainability tourism research
More critical and engaging tourism sustainability research is needed, and this research note argues that a valuable contribution can come from scholars’ engagement with their spirituality. The main argument here is that spirituality and sustainability are strictly interrelated, and that such a link should be an integral part of the methodology of studies on sustainability and tourism. Elaborating on the concept of reflexivity, this note coins the…
Sustainability and justice
Farm animals are virtually ignored in tourism studies concerning sustainability and justice. This study argues that this conflicts with animal ethics and is a missed opportunity to reflect on sustainability and justice in tourism. It adopts an ecofeminist care ethics perspective and conducts autoethnographic research into farm animals, considered ‘silenced’ individuals belonging to a marginalised group in rural tourism. The case is used to discus…
Small tourism providers' stories about sustainability
This study asks how small tourism providers use stories to make sense of their world in terms of sustainability. It elaborates on sense-making and story concepts and their relevance to sustainability; adopts an enactive research approach and multiple methods (participation, journaling, interviews, document analysis, content analysis); and explores five providers' stories about themselves, the destination, and their story for tourists. The main fi…
The space of animal justice in wildlife sanctuaries
The growing debate on the Anthropocene epoch urges a critical reflection on the relationship between human and non-human animals. This paper reflects on the space of animal justice in wildlife sanctuaries from a post-human perspective. Our perspective on wildlife sanctuaries relies on posthumanism and its potential in terms of offering both a new epistemology and a theoretical grounding for an approach to justice that is not anthropocentric. In s…
Wildlife Tourism Futures
This book presents possible future scenarios in wildlife and animal tourism. It offers critically-imagined futures in order to encourage readers to reflect on the possibility of shaping a better future. It will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners in wildlife tourism, environmental studies, sustainability and conservation.
Learning communities and co-creative tourism practices in NGDO projects
In this study, we considered tourism collaboration for sustainable development as a co-creative practice of learning about tourism in order to achieve benefits for local communities. We focused on projects run by non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) and the challenges relating to their long-term impact. These challenges concern the projects’ potential to facilitate the emergence and/or reinforcement of local learning communities. Th…
Workshop methodology design
Workshop methodologies based on overarching knowledge structures are necessary for a shift of the tourism sector towards sustainability. We adopted a participatory action research approach and designed a workshop methodology based on the main tenets and tools of the theory of change, design thinking, and sustainable business models. We tested this methodology within a project initiated by a destination management organisation to promote innovatio…
The Vegan Food Experience
The purpose of this study was to go beyond an oversimplified representation of the vegan food experience and approach the investigation of such experience, in particular of happiness deriving from food choices, including factors at the macro and micro level. Broadening the concept of foodscape to emphasize the experiential aspect of food, this study explored how the vegan food experience can be described as a situated story about vegans searching…
Animal-based experiences and animal experiences
This study poses the question: How are leisure experiences inspired by rural practices about the traditional use of farm animals lived by the animals? The aim is to contribute to the literature about farm animals in leisure experiences and the animals’ perspectives on the leisure experiences in which they are involved. \n\n Based on the main tenets of ecofeminism, it explores the research question by adopting a creative approach consisting of a f…
Re-thinking sustainability and food in tourism
Learning to face global food challenges through tourism experiences
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provoke reflections on the potential contribution of food tourism experiences to achieving the sustainable development goals for eradicating hunger and malnutrition. Design/methodology/approach In line with the creative analytic practice in scientific inquiry, this study develops and discusses a futuristic scenario inspired by a factual company. The case is based on ideas derived from studies on educational…
Wildlife tourism through the co-creation lens
This study reflects on the conceptualisation of wild animals as co-creators. Its purpose is to encourage reflection about the role of animals in wildlife tourism. Therefore, to this end – and in the belief that diversity and creativity are important elements in critical thinking – the study was developed by a research team with diverse professional backgrounds. It adopts a fictional methodological approach, employing a fictive dialogue between a …
Sustainability in wildlife tourism
Purpose This study raises and discusses questions concerning the assumptions of sustainability to uncover aspects that might lead to new critical ways of understanding it. More specifically, the aim of this study is to discuss the adoption of the sustainability approach in wildlife tourism and challenge its underlying anthropocentric assumptions. Design/methodology/approach The approach adopted is one of animal ethics, more precisely Ecofeminism.…
Arctic tourism experiences
This book aims to better understand the production and consumption of visitor experiences in the Arctic region as a rapidly changing tourist destination. This knowledge will contribute to a balanced triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability approach in Arctic tourism. Part 1 (chapters 1-6) investigates the depth and dimensions of tourist experiences in the Arctic. The chapters examine the essence of diverse peak experiences and delve into the facto…
The Co-creation of Animal-based Tourism Experience
The purpose of this research note is to present some reflections on the role of animals in animal-based tourism experiences. It is inspired by those tourism studies concerning the conceptualization of animals and human-animal relationships (e.g., Curtin 2005, 2009, 2010; Woods 2000; Cohen 2012). Some of these studies qualify the domain in which encounters between the tourists and the animals occur as the place where humanity and animality meet. T…
Re-thinking sustainability and food in tourism
Wildlife tourism through the co-creation lens
This study reflects on the conceptualisation of wild animals as co-creators. Its purpose is to encourage reflection about the role of animals in wildlife tourism. Therefore, to this end – and in the belief that diversity and creativity are important elements in critical thinking – the study was developed by a research team with diverse professional backgrounds. It adopts a fictional methodological approach, employing a fictive dialogue between a …
Sustainability in wildlife tourism
Purpose This study raises and discusses questions concerning the assumptions of sustainability to uncover aspects that might lead to new critical ways of understanding it. More specifically, the aim of this study is to discuss the adoption of the sustainability approach in wildlife tourism and challenge its underlying anthropocentric assumptions. Design/methodology/approach The approach adopted is one of animal ethics, more precisely Ecofeminism.…
Ethical Content of Pictures of Animals in Tourism Promotion
Based on the animal ethics approaches of utilitarianism, animal rights and eco-feminism, this study reflects on the inclusion of animals in the tourism experience, more specifically, the use of promotional pictures of animals. The aim is to identify how the conceptualization of animals can be understood in relation to various animal ethics approaches and the local culture. An empirical case-study from northern Norway is investigated. The results …
An eco-feminist perspective on the co-existence of different views of seals in leisure activities
This study adopts an eco-feminist perspective and investigates leisure activities involving seals occurring in the area of Tromsø, an Arctic town in Norway. The aim is to contribute to the discussion of the existence of various conceptualisations of wild animals, with particular attention to their implications in terms of animal welfare and wellbeing, and the promotion of specific ways we as humans view wild animals and ourselves. The data was co…
The space of animal justice in wildlife sanctuaries
The growing debate on the Anthropocene epoch urges a critical reflection on the relationship between human and non-human animals. This paper reflects on the space of animal justice in wildlife sanctuaries from a post-human perspective. Our perspective on wildlife sanctuaries relies on posthumanism and its potential in terms of offering both a new epistemology and a theoretical grounding for an approach to justice that is not anthropocentric. In s…
Workshop methodology design
Workshop methodologies based on overarching knowledge structures are necessary for a shift of the tourism sector towards sustainability. We adopted a participatory action research approach and designed a workshop methodology based on the main tenets and tools of the theory of change, design thinking, and sustainable business models. We tested this methodology within a project initiated by a destination management organisation to promote innovatio…
Animal-based experiences and animal experiences
This study poses the question: How are leisure experiences inspired by rural practices about the traditional use of farm animals lived by the animals? The aim is to contribute to the literature about farm animals in leisure experiences and the animals’ perspectives on the leisure experiences in which they are involved. \n\n Based on the main tenets of ecofeminism, it explores the research question by adopting a creative approach consisting of a f…
The human gaze at animals and the missing animal gaze in tourism studies
This research letter critically reflects on the missing animal gaze in tourism studies and elaborates on the urgency of including it in the discussion about the relationship between human and non-human animals. Drawing on the Foucauldian gaze and on the John Urry’s tourist gaze, we reflect on the unproblematised power imbalance between human and animal gazes that is inherent in tourist representations. Inspired by posthuman thinking, we use featu…
Celebrating the family abroad
The research question on which this paper is based is as follows: How is the family celebrated at weddings that take place far from the place of residence of the involved families? This paper utilizes an experiential approach and uses the concepts of authenticity and co-creation to investigate the case of wedding tourism in Tuscany (Italy). The data collection includes primary data in the form of interviews, observations, and a survey, and second…
The Vegan Food Experience
The purpose of this study was to go beyond an oversimplified representation of the vegan food experience and approach the investigation of such experience, in particular of happiness deriving from food choices, including factors at the macro and micro level. Broadening the concept of foodscape to emphasize the experiential aspect of food, this study explored how the vegan food experience can be described as a situated story about vegans searching…
Humour and comics for academic change and well-being
Considering recent calls for change towards a more liveable tourism academia, we combined \ncritical participatory action research with duoethnography to develop The Academic Line—a \nhumorous comic project about academic life. We used traditional theories of humour to leverage \nthe effectiveness of comics as communicative devices and explored how and to what extent our \nproject promoted solidarity, reflexivity, well-being, and change. This stu…
Ethical Content of Pictures of Animals in Tourism Promotion
Based on the animal ethics approaches of utilitarianism, animal rights and eco-feminism, this study reflects on the inclusion of animals in the tourism experience, more specifically, the use of promotional pictures of animals. The aim is to identify how the conceptualization of animals can be understood in relation to various animal ethics approaches and the local culture. An empirical case-study from northern Norway is investigated. The results …
The Co-creation of Animal-based Tourism Experience
The purpose of this research note is to present some reflections on the role of animals in animal-based tourism experiences. It is inspired by those tourism studies concerning the conceptualization of animals and human-animal relationships (e.g., Curtin 2005, 2009, 2010; Woods 2000; Cohen 2012). Some of these studies qualify the domain in which encounters between the tourists and the animals occur as the place where humanity and animality meet. T…
Celebrating the family abroad
The research question on which this paper is based is as follows: How is the family celebrated at weddings that take place far from the place of residence of the involved families? This paper utilizes an experiential approach and uses the concepts of authenticity and co-creation to investigate the case of wedding tourism in Tuscany (Italy). The data collection includes primary data in the form of interviews, observations, and a survey, and second…
Arctic tourism experiences
This book aims to better understand the production and consumption of visitor experiences in the Arctic region as a rapidly changing tourist destination. This knowledge will contribute to a balanced triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability approach in Arctic tourism. Part 1 (chapters 1-6) investigates the depth and dimensions of tourist experiences in the Arctic. The chapters examine the essence of diverse peak experiences and delve into the facto…
An eco-feminist perspective on the co-existence of different views of seals in leisure activities
This study adopts an eco-feminist perspective and investigates leisure activities involving seals occurring in the area of Tromsø, an Arctic town in Norway. The aim is to contribute to the discussion of the existence of various conceptualisations of wild animals, with particular attention to their implications in terms of animal welfare and wellbeing, and the promotion of specific ways we as humans view wild animals and ourselves. The data was co…
Sustainability in wildlife tourism
Purpose This study raises and discusses questions concerning the assumptions of sustainability to uncover aspects that might lead to new critical ways of understanding it. More specifically, the aim of this study is to discuss the adoption of the sustainability approach in wildlife tourism and challenge its underlying anthropocentric assumptions. Design/methodology/approach The approach adopted is one of animal ethics, more precisely Ecofeminism.…
Learning to face global food challenges through tourism experiences
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provoke reflections on the potential contribution of food tourism experiences to achieving the sustainable development goals for eradicating hunger and malnutrition. Design/methodology/approach In line with the creative analytic practice in scientific inquiry, this study develops and discusses a futuristic scenario inspired by a factual company. The case is based on ideas derived from studies on educational…
Wildlife tourism through the co-creation lens
This study reflects on the conceptualisation of wild animals as co-creators. Its purpose is to encourage reflection about the role of animals in wildlife tourism. Therefore, to this end – and in the belief that diversity and creativity are important elements in critical thinking – the study was developed by a research team with diverse professional backgrounds. It adopts a fictional methodological approach, employing a fictive dialogue between a …
The Vegan Food Experience
The purpose of this study was to go beyond an oversimplified representation of the vegan food experience and approach the investigation of such experience, in particular of happiness deriving from food choices, including factors at the macro and micro level. Broadening the concept of foodscape to emphasize the experiential aspect of food, this study explored how the vegan food experience can be described as a situated story about vegans searching…
Animal-based experiences and animal experiences
This study poses the question: How are leisure experiences inspired by rural practices about the traditional use of farm animals lived by the animals? The aim is to contribute to the literature about farm animals in leisure experiences and the animals’ perspectives on the leisure experiences in which they are involved. \n\n Based on the main tenets of ecofeminism, it explores the research question by adopting a creative approach consisting of a f…
Re-thinking sustainability and food in tourism
Wildlife Tourism Futures
This book presents possible future scenarios in wildlife and animal tourism. It offers critically-imagined futures in order to encourage readers to reflect on the possibility of shaping a better future. It will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners in wildlife tourism, environmental studies, sustainability and conservation.
Learning communities and co-creative tourism practices in NGDO projects
In this study, we considered tourism collaboration for sustainable development as a co-creative practice of learning about tourism in order to achieve benefits for local communities. We focused on projects run by non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) and the challenges relating to their long-term impact. These challenges concern the projects’ potential to facilitate the emergence and/or reinforcement of local learning communities. Th…
Workshop methodology design
Workshop methodologies based on overarching knowledge structures are necessary for a shift of the tourism sector towards sustainability. We adopted a participatory action research approach and designed a workshop methodology based on the main tenets and tools of the theory of change, design thinking, and sustainable business models. We tested this methodology within a project initiated by a destination management organisation to promote innovatio…
‘Spirituality in practice’ in sustainability tourism research
More critical and engaging tourism sustainability research is needed, and this research note argues that a valuable contribution can come from scholars’ engagement with their spirituality. The main argument here is that spirituality and sustainability are strictly interrelated, and that such a link should be an integral part of the methodology of studies on sustainability and tourism. Elaborating on the concept of reflexivity, this note coins the…
Sustainability and justice
Farm animals are virtually ignored in tourism studies concerning sustainability and justice. This study argues that this conflicts with animal ethics and is a missed opportunity to reflect on sustainability and justice in tourism. It adopts an ecofeminist care ethics perspective and conducts autoethnographic research into farm animals, considered ‘silenced’ individuals belonging to a marginalised group in rural tourism. The case is used to discus…
Small tourism providers' stories about sustainability
This study asks how small tourism providers use stories to make sense of their world in terms of sustainability. It elaborates on sense-making and story concepts and their relevance to sustainability; adopts an enactive research approach and multiple methods (participation, journaling, interviews, document analysis, content analysis); and explores five providers' stories about themselves, the destination, and their story for tourists. The main fi…
The space of animal justice in wildlife sanctuaries
The growing debate on the Anthropocene epoch urges a critical reflection on the relationship between human and non-human animals. This paper reflects on the space of animal justice in wildlife sanctuaries from a post-human perspective. Our perspective on wildlife sanctuaries relies on posthumanism and its potential in terms of offering both a new epistemology and a theoretical grounding for an approach to justice that is not anthropocentric. In s…
Care-full academic activism for sustainable transformations in tourism
The urgent need for radical changes towards sustainability provides an opportunity to reconsider the epistemology and methodology of tourism research. The present study discusses this opportunity by adopting the concept of deep leverage points for sustainable transformations and an ethic of care perspective. The discussion highlights the vital role that a deep form of reflexivity plays in care-based tourism research that aims at sustainable trans…
The human gaze at animals and the missing animal gaze in tourism studies
This research letter critically reflects on the missing animal gaze in tourism studies and elaborates on the urgency of including it in the discussion about the relationship between human and non-human animals. Drawing on the Foucauldian gaze and on the John Urry’s tourist gaze, we reflect on the unproblematised power imbalance between human and animal gazes that is inherent in tourist representations. Inspired by posthuman thinking, we use featu…
Cross-community enactive research
To respond to the call for broader ways to understand academic engagement in sustainable tourism, I conceptualized a relational practice-based approach, termed cross-community enactive research. Relying on central ideas from the enactive research approach by entrepreneurship scholar Bengt Johannisson, which draws on autoethnography and action research, and the communities of practice theory by educationalist Etienne Wenger, this approach involves…
Reflexive monitoring for sustainable transformations
In this study, we combined reflexive monitoring—a critical assessment, evaluation, and practice-adjustment process—with participatory learning through educational games to advance transformative sustainable tourism methodologies. The methodology was tested in a workshop with tourism practitioners in Norway. Using a constructivist lens, we analysed the narratives participants shared via game artefacts, observations, and debriefings. The tourism pr…
Humour and comics for academic change and well-being
Considering recent calls for change towards a more liveable tourism academia, we combined \ncritical participatory action research with duoethnography to develop The Academic Line—a \nhumorous comic project about academic life. We used traditional theories of humour to leverage \nthe effectiveness of comics as communicative devices and explored how and to what extent our \nproject promoted solidarity, reflexivity, well-being, and change. This stu…
A virtual dive into ocean conservation and protection
Whale watching provides an opportunity to educate the public about marine conservation and protection, yet it often falls short of this potential and poses an ongoing dilemma as it inherently disturbs the animals. This note discusses Us: The Sea of Sounds, a project that we designed to address challenges by raising awareness about underwater noise pollution and its harmful effects on marine life, especially cetaceans. We adopted immersive and int…
Narrating the soundscape of coastal tourism
This research letter concerns the soundscape along the Norwegian coastline, but the concepts can be applied to most coastal destinations. We wrote this letter in our roles as scholars of tourism and biology as well as members of a non-profit organisation located in northern Norway that is dedicated to science, conservation and the protection of marine mammals. By contrasting a promotional video with an awareness-raising video, we highlight touris…
Tourism (24 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research (19 works) · Political science (19 works) · Geography (13 works) · Ecology (12 works) · Environmental ethics (12 works) · Sustainability (11 works) · Business (10 works) · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development (10 works)