112 Letter from Carla Barbieri
“The open-endedness of thinking is connected to an openness to otherness.”
(Berg & Seeber, 2017; The Slow Professor, p. 60).
Queridas Colegas,
We seldom have the opportunity to write freely about what it entails to be a woman tourism scholar. Yet, this is a paradox when so often we need to explain that our work transcends in-the-classroom instruction (‘so, what do you do when you are not teaching?’) or leisure travel (‘so, your job is to travel all over?!’). Even rarer is having the luxury to reflect upon the factors that have shaped our scholarly path. Thus, I am jumping at this opportunity to write a manifesto of what means for me to be a Latina tourism scholar. I am sharing the stands, principles, and practices that I believe have sustained me over time. Although this writing exercise is intended to serve as a collective mentoring to inspire the next generation of women tourism scholars, I suggest taking my words with caution and even skepticism, as you will.
Being a Scholar, in my view, embodies an entity greater than our duties that requires pursuing, nurturing, and sustaining a holistic mindset, a critically candid attitude, and high ethical standards in all our life domains. Under the risk of being called a romanticist (again), I believe the value of being a scholar is not the recognition (or financial returns), but rather the responsibility of being accountable to our students, colleagues, discipline, stakeholders, and ultimately society. At times, such a sense of responsibility, which often adds to the culture of care women hold, can asphyxiate us or make us lose our sense of purpose. The following principles inspire me to stick as a scholar.
- Seizing fun and realizing happiness while maintaining intellectual rigor. Indeed a cheesy and overused statement. Yet, it is the pleasure I grasp when teaching, running statistical analysis, cooking at the end of the day, or spontaneously dancing when I hear a merengue or cumbia that invigorates my work and makes me whole.
- Letting it sink before speaking. We live on rushed times that have instilled our urgency to respond on the spot, and that may not always be wise. Taking the time to react to a difficult situation has helped me broaden my perspectives and options.
- Being opened to compromise without betraying my personal or professional beliefs.
- Asking for advice. We are expected to be scholars, not perfect scholars. I have a handful of mentors and colleagues that I approach when I need light in a range of issues, from making sure I am not out of place when assessing a situation to discussing whether a statistical procedure is sound. And, I especially trust my women colleagues when I just need to vent.
I carried the internal burden of tener que lograrlo y hacerlo bien while navigating a foreign culture and language. Yet, it broadened my perspectives, mindset, and ability to appreciate beyond my own. Below are some practices that helped me navigate—successfully