Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Climbing Through the State: Social Empowerment and Contentious Actions in the Jordanian Outdoors

Pedrosa Latorre, Hugo LU (2016) MOSM03 20161
Centre for Middle Eastern Studies
Abstract
Tourism has been a fief industry for state power in Jordan, used as state-building tool and hard-currency
earner. However, the country’s socio-economic structure and the current regional conflicts
have hindered its development as the expected economic engine to achieve Jordan’s independence
from foreign aid. This work looks at a collective identity created around outdoors and adventure
sports in Jordan that has taken advantage of previously unused natural spaces to develop an adventure
tourism industry in the country. Their actions have been capable to directly challenge social and
power structures in Jordan. By representing a new option and dissidence from pre-established social
norms and developing a profitable economic industry... (More)
Tourism has been a fief industry for state power in Jordan, used as state-building tool and hard-currency
earner. However, the country’s socio-economic structure and the current regional conflicts
have hindered its development as the expected economic engine to achieve Jordan’s independence
from foreign aid. This work looks at a collective identity created around outdoors and adventure
sports in Jordan that has taken advantage of previously unused natural spaces to develop an adventure
tourism industry in the country. Their actions have been capable to directly challenge social and
power structures in Jordan. By representing a new option and dissidence from pre-established social
norms and developing a profitable economic industry that is able to modernize the stagnant tourism
sector in Jordan, they have become an apolitical resistance to the country’s socio-economic and power
structures. Through a three-month ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews, this
thesis records the daily activities of individuals belonging to the outdoors community in Jordan and
the opinions of managers of adventure tourism companies in the country to focus on the empowerment
of civil society actors and the challenges to develop an industry without the support of state
authorities. The thesis identifies the modernization effects at a social and state level of grassroots
initiatives and the ability of the state to adopt them as its own achievements. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Pedrosa Latorre, Hugo LU
supervisor
organization
course
MOSM03 20161
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Jordan, tourism, adventure, outdoors, collective identity, alternative resistance, social empowerment
language
English
id
8887778
date added to LUP
2017-01-18 09:12:02
date last changed
2017-01-18 09:12:02
@misc{8887778,
  abstract     = {{Tourism has been a fief industry for state power in Jordan, used as state-building tool and hard-currency
earner. However, the country’s socio-economic structure and the current regional conflicts
have hindered its development as the expected economic engine to achieve Jordan’s independence
from foreign aid. This work looks at a collective identity created around outdoors and adventure
sports in Jordan that has taken advantage of previously unused natural spaces to develop an adventure
tourism industry in the country. Their actions have been capable to directly challenge social and
power structures in Jordan. By representing a new option and dissidence from pre-established social
norms and developing a profitable economic industry that is able to modernize the stagnant tourism
sector in Jordan, they have become an apolitical resistance to the country’s socio-economic and power
structures. Through a three-month ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews, this
thesis records the daily activities of individuals belonging to the outdoors community in Jordan and
the opinions of managers of adventure tourism companies in the country to focus on the empowerment
of civil society actors and the challenges to develop an industry without the support of state
authorities. The thesis identifies the modernization effects at a social and state level of grassroots
initiatives and the ability of the state to adopt them as its own achievements.}},
  author       = {{Pedrosa Latorre, Hugo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Climbing Through the State: Social Empowerment and Contentious Actions in the Jordanian Outdoors}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}