Actor-network theory and tourism analysis: a new paradigm?

Abstract

The objectives of this article were to present the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), to show its approach to tourism research and reflecting on the possibility of the emergence of a new paradigm on tourism studies. The analytical perspective which ANT offers showed itself viable for the interpretation and analysis of the tourism due to its capacity of dealing with the tourism phenomenon multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, through the emphasis on the intrinsic relational materialism to the concept of "translation". Initially, it was shown the main characteristics of the Actor-Network Theory, presenting its origins and some of its key concepts, translation, network and actor. Then, it was discussed the epistemological and ontological developments of the tourism studies carried out from this point of view. In order to guide the reader to a possible use of ANT in tourism research, an explanation on some studies that approached tourism using ANT was made, and of the implicit methodological implications in this type of spatial analysis. The research was based on an extensive literature review on Tourism and Actor-Network Theory, conducted between March 2015 and February 2017. The articles and theses searches were carried out predominantly from the databases available to the subscribers of the periodicals website of Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education) and from academic databases, Universities theses and research organizations available on the Internet.