Early Career Scholar Seminar Series with Emma Lundin

Based on a recent research study by Dr. Joelle Soulard and Emma Lundin, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, published in Annals of Tourism Research, the presentation will focus on how docents perceive and make sense of their role as transformative educators. The study used photo-elicitation and interviews and found that the docent training and interactions with travelers at the museum were transformative for the docents. The transformative aspects and the docents' emotional intelligence skills contributed to being upstanders outside the museum setting, including advocates against hatred and injustices in their community. The research study sheds light on the role of museum docents as facilitators for transformative values beyond the museum setting in their local community.

Follow-up discussion:

Following her research presentation, Emma Lundin will discuss how docents, in their daily lives, embody the values that museums represent. Docents continue to play a guiding role in their communities, serving as advocates for the transformative values emphasized by the museums, such as democracy and justice. Docents’ engagements highlight museums' critical role in creating meaningful change within local communities and challenge the perception of museums as neutral entities.

The Early Career Scholar Seminar Series is organised by the burgeoning Knowledge Environment Sustainable Tourism (KEST).

Moderator: Sandhiya Goolaup

Short Bio

Emma Lundin is a PhD student in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Emma holds a master's degree in Tourism and Sustainability from Linnaeus University, Kalmar. Emma's research focuses on more-than-human tourism, multispecies interactions, and dark tourism experiences through collaborative and learning-with approaches. Emma is part of a research collaboration with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Skokie, Illinois, which has resulted in research articles and presentations on transformative experiences.

Publications:

Soulard, J., & Lundin, E. (2023). Docents as Transformative Educators of Travelers. Annals of Tourism Research, 103, 103662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103662

Lundin, E., Soulard, J., & Stewart, W. (2023). A Broaden-and-Build Theoretical Perspective on Dark Tourism Visitors' Transformative Emotional Journeys. Leisure Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2023.2196272   

Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Sustainable Tourism (KEST) – a burgeoning knowledge environment