The authentic tourism academic, a compromise?

Kuvaus

With the world becoming progressively more interconnected, even tourism academics become more connected to each other. This increased connection means that the community has grown closer, but this can also mean a more immediate scrutiny with both positive and potentially negative implications. Since the start of the author’s short academic career and the participation in the discussion list Trinet, thoughts about the authenticity of the academic career have surfaced. Is being a good academic connected to the possibility of being an “authentic” academic? And what is an “authentic” academic? What might the concept’s inner meaning be? The author willingly uses the concept of authenticity, which is source of great discussion in the tourism academia and problematises it using classical philosophical literature and other studies related to the authenticity both in the workplace as well as in other contexts. First, the concept’s philosophical origin is outlined and then literature on authenticity related to more practical situations is presented. This will constitute a critique of the concept of authenticity, which is then discussed from the viewpoint of critical
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realism. Critical realist authenticity is presented as a viable alternative to previous conceptualisations. The discussion is underlined by the author’s personal experience and struggles related to the quality, and authenticity, of the work that is being done. Authenticity is conceptualised as a compromise between many different aspects that a tourism academic is faced with regarding personal life, working life and the duty to the scientific and larger community.
Keywords: authenticity, academic career, critical

Aikajakso	6 lokak. 2017
Pidetty	Dalarna University, Ruotsi