2025/02/17 by Hindertje Hoarau-Heemstra, Albina Pashkevich, Carol Kline · 1 voice · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Culinary Culture and Tourism #Travel Writing and Literature #Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
paper · doi:10.1080/14616688.2025.2494687
openalex publication_date 2025/02/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We depart from the assumption that every earthling has a profound interest in its own life and is most likely reluctant to die. Humans can reflect upon their role in the death of others, so animal mortality becomes a moral issue. Recent research efforts have called for multispecies equity and justice for wildlife in tourism. In this article, based on an example of Arctic King Crab safaris, we argue that there is no equity for the uses of King Crabs in tourism experiences and explore the justification for practices of collectively watching and participating in the suffering and death of these crustaceans. We use ethnographic data, participant observations, and informal interviews to analyze interpretation during these safaris and the narratives of consuming the crabs to explore the role of interpretation in wildlife equity. We focus on the guides’ and tourism entrepreneurs’ interpretations with King Crabs and conclude that tourists are often unaware of the degree of suffering caused by their participation in the tourism experience, particularly when their behavior and interpretation are carefully orchestrated by guides. With this work, we contribute to the discussion about inflicting suffering on animals in tourism and highlight the importance of transformative reconceptualization of the role of wildlife in the interaction and interpretation practices in tourist experiences involving non-human living creatures.