Narrative analysis as a tool for contextual tourism research : an exploration

Narrative analysis within the social sciences has evolved throughout this decennium as a mature qualitative methodology. An extensive body of academic publications has already been portrayed. The urgency of a narrative analysis becomes even more obvious in light of the emerging network society and the tacit knowledge, hidden in its interacting networks. Narratives are vehicles par excellence to uncover this hidden information. The growing attention within the academic and professional community for the attribution of implicit, contextual information that should make social reality more visible in everyday life, is related to the growing significance of narrative analysis for research into tourism. How can stories of silent voices in the tourism field be related to the main developments in tourism theory and practice? In this article a conceptual frame will be developed as an answer to this question. A critical review on the cultural experiences in the international classroom of tourism studies in the Dutch universities of Wageningen and Breda will illustrate the significance of this frame and a methodological design will be suggested for further use.