Local knowledge and adult learning in environmental adult education: community‐based ecotourism in southern Thailand
Local knowledge and adult learning in environmental adult education: community‐based ecotourism in southern Thailand
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环境成人教育中的当地知识和成人学习：泰国南部基于社区的生态旅游
DOI：
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发表时间：
2009
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Pierre Walter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Pierre Walter
本文在泰国南部一个岛屿社区的社区生态旅游项目中，研究了当地知识是如何应用于环境成人教育的。这项研究是基于实地调研和对项目网站、媒体报道和文件的分析。该生态旅游项目位于全球旅游业和当地泰国-马来穆斯林渔业社区的交汇点，是一种挑战大众旅游主导做法的替代旅游发展模式。在该项目中，游客作为客人住在当地家庭，并向家庭和社区生态旅游导游学习第一手知识。为游客开设的非正式生态旅游“课程”侧重于潮汐和海洋生态系统的当地知识、环境保护努力、当地文化和传统生计活动。游客通过体验学习来了解和欣赏这些当地知识，并在此过程中为社区的生存、文化保护和社区赖以生存的海洋资源的保护做出贡献。就生态旅游项目的成员而言，他们在项目的整个生命周期中参与了广泛的成人学习。这种学习包括生态旅游管理、环境保护、跨文化交流和政治激进主义方面的技能和知识。尽管岛上大众旅游的出现现在可能会让当地社区不堪重负，但生态旅游项目成员多年来建立的环境成人教育、成人学习和政治行动主义的能力可能有助于缓解--如果不是控制--未来商业开发的有害影响。
This paper examines how local knowledge is employed in environmental adult education in a community‐based ecotourism project in an island community in southern Thailand. The study is based on field research and analysis of project websites, media reports and documents. Situated at the intersection of global tourism and a local Thai–Malay Muslim fishing community, the ecotourism project functions as an alternative tourism development model challenging dominant practices of mass tourism. In the project, tourists stay as guests in local homes, and learn firsthand from family and community ecotourism guides. The informal ecotourism ‘curriculum’ for tourists centres on local knowledge of tidal and marine ecosystems, environmental conservation efforts, local culture, and traditional livelihood activities. Tourists learn experientially to understand and appreciate this local knowledge, and in the process, contribute to the sustenance of the community, to the preservation of culture, and to the conservation of the marine resources upon which the community depends. Members of the ecotourism project, for their part, have engaged in a wide range of adult learning over the project’s lifespan. This learning includes skills and knowledge in ecotourism management, environmental conservation, cross‐cultural exchange and political activism. Although the advent of mass tourism on the island now threatens to overwhelm the local community, the capacity for environmental adult education, adult learning and political activism built up over many years by members of the ecotourism project will likely help to moderate, if not control, the deleterious effects of future commercial development.