CATS will hold the Tourism Online Forum Series (TOFS) vol.60 on Thursday, December 18. Anyone is welcome to attend. We look forward to your participation.

Researching the Rural: Languages, Knowledge Production and Decoloniality

Abstract:
Within the broader scholarly fields of rural community development and governance, this presentation explores the challenges of knowledge production that arise in moving from empirical research – often situated within specific linguistic contexts – to international dissemination and recognition, which almost inevitably take place in English. Drawing on literature from translation and language politics, as well as professional working experience across various linguistic and cultural contexts (English, Greek, Japanese, Turkish), this presentation discusses another ‘politic of the rural’ which is not about discursive representations of the rural, but the natural languages (and their politics) that academic knowledge about the rural is produced. As such, using linguistic variations of rurality, the presentation discusses and problematizes broader concerns about academic knowledge and decoloniality.

Keywords: rurality; language; translation; politics; decoloniality

Hosted by: Center for Advanced Tourism Studies (CATS), Hokkaido University

Date/Time: Thursday 18 December 2025  |  18:30-20:00 (JST)

Venue: Online (Zoom Webinar)

Language: English

Capacity: 50 persons

Participation fee: Free to join (pre-registration system)

Speaker: Dr. Menelaos Gkartzios
Bio:
Menelaos Gkartzios is Professor of Planning at Middle East Technical University in Turkey and Reader in Planning and Rural Development at Newcastle University in the UK. His work focuses on mobilities and social change in the countryside, the theory and practice of rural planning, and the relationship between artistic practice and place-based development. He has served as Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan and Visiting Professor at Tongji University in China. He is Associate Editor of the journal Habitat International, and currently serves on the board of the Journal of Rural Studies, Progress in Planning, Planning Practice & Research, and Rural Society. Recent books include: Postcapitalist Countrysides: From Commoning to Community Wealth Building (UCL Press, 2025); Town and Country Planning in the UK (Routledge, 2024); Rural Places and Planning: Stories from the Global Countryside (Policy Press, 2022); and The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning (Routledge, 2019).

Moderator: Dr. Meng Qu

Registration:
Please register at the URL below.
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sTAQoO3mTg6FHTduhA2C4g

Contact:
Hokkaido University, Center for Advanced Tourism Studies (CATS)
online-forum(at)cats.hokudai.ac.jp
*Please replace the (at) part with @.