Dr Duncan Light
- Principal Academic In Tourism
- Dorset House D173, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Biography
I joined Bournemouth University in 2014 and am a Principal Academic in tourism management at Bournemouth University Business School. By background I am a human geographer and all my teaching and research draws out the relationships between tourism, places and spaces. Much of my research focuses on Romania, a country I have visited regularly since 1995.
Research
There are 4 strands to my current research:
First, I am interested in the cultural politics of tourism. My recent research has focused on 'Dracula tourism' in Romania. Dracula presents Romania with a unique dilemma: on one hand it can generate much needed foreign currency through tourism, but on the other hand it fundamentally collides with Romania's sense of its own political and cultural identity. My book 'The Dracula Dilemma: Tourism, Identity and the State in Romania' (Routledge, 2016) explores how Romania has negotiated this dilemma over the past 40 years (in both communist and post-communist contexts. I am currently a part of the AHRC-funded ‘Dracula returns to Derby’ project (led by Professor Matthew Cheeseman of the University of Derby).
Second I am researching the role of tourism within transitional justice in post-communist Romania. Working with Prof Remus Cretan from Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara, I have focused on the experiences of visitors in memorial museums dedicated to communist repression. In particular we have explored how visitors interact with, and negotiate, the messages they encounter.
Third, I have long-standing research expertise in heritage tourism and am currently researching the tangible and intangible heritage of the British seaside holiday. In particular, I am examining how this represents a form of unofficial or ‘unrecognised’ heritage that has long been denied recognition but which is increasingly being valued and valorized with coastal resort regeneration...
Fourth, I have broader interests in the relationships between public memory, urban landscapes and national identity. I also have an inexplicable fascination with street names.
moreFavourites
- Light, D., Lupu, C., Creţan, R. and Chapman, A., 2024. Unconventional entrepreneurs: the non-economic motives of souvenir sellers. Tourism Review, 79 (8), 1442-1456.
- Byrom, J., Light, D., Medway, D., Parker, C. and Zenker, S., 2024. Post-holiday memory work: Everyday encounters with fridge magnets. Annals of Tourism Research, 105.
- Obigbesan, E., Chapman, A. and Light, D., 2024. Positive experiences of visually impaired tourists. Current Issues in Tourism, 27 (12), 1870-1883.
- Light, D., Rugg, J. and Young, C., 2023. The disposal of cremation ashes in tourism settings: practices, impacts and management. Current Issues in Tourism, 26 (8), 1354-1366.
- Light, D., Creţan, R. and Dunca, A.M., 2021. Transitional justice and the political ‘work’ of domestic tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 24 (6), 742-754.
- Chapman, A., Light, D. and Richards, S., 2021. Heritage attractions, competitive pressures and adaptation: the case of the British seaside pier. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 16 (5), 533-545.
- Creţan, R. and Light, D., 2020. COVID-19 in Romania: transnational labour, geopolitics, and the Roma ‘outsiders’. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 61 (4-5), 559-572.
- Light, D. and Brown, L., 2020. Dwelling-mobility: A theory of the existential pull between home and away. Annals of Tourism Research, 81.
- Crețan, R., Light, D., Richards, S. and Dunca, A.M., 2018. Encountering the victims of Romanian communism: young people and empathy in a memorial museum. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 59 (5-6), 632-656.
- Light, D., 2017. Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism. Tourism Management, 61, 275-301.
- Chapman, A. and Light, D., 2017. Working with the carnivalesque at the seaside: Transgression and misbehaviour in a tourism workplace. Tourist Studies, 17 (2), 182-199.
- Dumbreaveanu, D., Light, D., Young, C. and Chapman, A., 2016. Exploring women’s employment in tourism under state-socialism: Experiences of tourism work in socialist Romania. Tourist Studies, 16 (2), 151-169.
- Light, D. and Young, C., 2014. Habit, Memory, and the Persistence of Socialist-Era Street Names in Postsocialist Bucharest, Romania. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 104 (3), 668-685.
- Light, D., 2014. Tourism and toponymy: Commodifying and Consuming Place Names. Tourism Geographies: an international journal of tourism place, space and the environment, 16 (1), 141-156.
- Light, D., 2012. The Dracula Dilemma: Tourism, Identity and the State in Romania. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
- Light, D., 2009. Performing Transylvania: Tourism, fantasy and play in a liminal place. Tourist Studies, 9 (3), 240-258.
- Light, D., 2007. Dracula tourism in Romania Cultural identity and the state. Annals of Tourism Research, 34 (3), 746-765.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:
Responsible consumption and production
"Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns"
Peace, justice and strong institutions
"Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels"
