Beyond the horizon of words: silent landscape experience within spiritual retreat tourism
Ellina Mourtazina
June 15, 2020 DOI: 10.1108/ijcthr-10-2019-0185 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Sensory ethnography (qualitative study) |
|---|---|
| Population | Participants in nine silent retreats at a Buddhist meditation retreat center in Northern India |
| Key findings | Argues that silent landscapes are not only backdrops of touristic experiences but can be understood as an inter-subjective, performative, and resourceful milieu of engagement that intertwines intimate embodied experiences with broader social and cultural values. The paper contends that affects, embodiment, sensoriality, and sonority are pertinent lenses for understanding the inter-relation between tourists' selves and the surrounding world encountered during travel. |
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion and function of silent landscape in a touristic experience by presenting the findings of a study on silent retreats in a Buddhist meditation retreat center in Northern India.,This study adopted a sensory ethnography approach applied through interviews and participant observation methods conducted during and after nine retreats in a meditation center.,This study suggests that silent landscapes are not only backdrops of touristic experiences but can be considered as inter-subjective performative and resourceful milieu of engagement that intertwine intimate embodied experiences with broader social and cultural values.,Despite landscapes having been thoroughly investigated in tourist studies, this paper underlines the pertinence of mobilizing the lens of other forms of presences such as affects, embodiment, sensoriality and sonority to understand the inter-relation between tourists-selves and the surrounding world encountered during their travels.