Cashing in on Cetourism

A Critical Ecological Engagement with Dominant E‐NGO Discourses on Whaling, Cetacean Conservation, and Whale Watching 1

Bibliographic Data

ID8104136
AuthorsKatja Neves (0000-0002-4756-7755, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume42
Issue3
Pages719-741
Publication date2010-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntipode (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0066-4812 • E-ISSN: 1467-8330
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-8330.2010.00770.x
OpenAlexW2088812048
LanguageEN
Citations received42
References cited23

This paper engages critically with the monolithic presentation of whale watching as the antithesis of whale hunting. It begins by tackling the reductive and homogenized portrayal of whale watching in mainstream environmental discourse as diametrically opposite to whale hunting and argues that such discourse likely obscures the existence of bad whale watching conduct. Next it reveals significant continuities between whale hunting and whale watching, especially the fetishized commoditization of cetaceans and the creation of a metabolic rift in human–cetacean relations. In both contexts nature is produced first and foremost according to capitalist principles, which problematizes the pervasive assumption that whale watching correlates primarily and directly with conservation. Finally, the paper examines two different business models and the production of distinct ecological and community development effects. The results of the comparison justify the need for more critical and effective environmental non‐governmental organization approaches to cetourism vis‐à‐vis nature conservation goals

Biology · Fishery · Geography · Right whale · Sociology · Whale · Whaling · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Ecology

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