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- Title:
- Associate Professor
- Teacher Group:
- Regional Tourism Management
- Web site
Classes
Art and Festival Tourism
Creative Tourism
Media Culture and Representation
Regional Studies
Class Content
Exploring Creativity and Rural Tourism Revitalization in Non-Urban Areas
The Art and Festival Tourism class focuses on the relationship between art and tourism, providing an understanding of contemporary art concepts such as land art, environmental art, public art, relational aesthetics, site-specific art, and art involved in revitalization efforts. Students will gain insight into culture mapping and creative geographies, exploring the mechanisms of art tourism and festival tourism, and their roles in urban and rural revitalization, gentrification, and the impact of creative and relational geographies. The course also delves into rural and island studies, focusing on island culture, creative rural residents, islandness, and the creation and transformation of ‘art islands.’
In the Creative Tourism class, students will learn about the evolution of cultural tourism and creative tourism, and will develop the ability to critically engage with academic literature and apply professional insights. The course will also cover cultural sustainability, emphasizing sustainable tourism, sustainable cultural tourism, and creative tourism within the context of sustainability, as well as how to use cultural indicators for research. Finally, students will explore creative research methods in creative tourism studies, including action research, service learning, filmmaking, and idea mining workshops for fieldwork.
Brief Outline of History & Achievements
Meng Qu, Ph.D., serves as an Associate Professor and Vice Director at the Center for Advanced Tourism Studies, Hokkaido University. He co-convenes the Small Island Cultures Research Initiative (SICRI) and is an Associate Editor of Folk, Knowledge, Place and Regional Editor for the Event Management journal. He is also on the editorial boards of Tourism Geographies, Shima, Event Management, the Journal of Marine and Island Cultures (JMIC), the Journal of Responsible Tourism Management (JRTM), and serves on the advisory board for CREATOUR International.
Between 2006 and 2015, he studied and worked as a digital artist, interactive design director, and vice president across Shanghai and Beijing, specializing in digital media art and museum design. His current research focuses on the revitalization of rural communities through international art festivals, in which he has participated as a volunteer, staff member, and researcher. These festivals include the Xucun International Art Festival (2011-2013) in China, the Setouchi Triennale (2016-2019) in Japan, and the Shiosai Art Festival (2019-2022).
Drawing from diverse working experiences and trans-disciplinary frameworks, particularly in creative/tourism geography, rural and island studies, with a focus on East Asia, his key research topics include socially engaged art festivals, relational aesthetics, creative in-migrants, sustainability, and rural revitalization. His current work centers on establishing an interdisciplinary nexus for rural revitalization by leveraging creative tourism initiatives to rejuvenate peripheral communities. He is also exploring the use of documentary film as a tool for fieldwork.
To Personal Page on Hokkaido University's Researcher Directory
Academic Society Affiliations
International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change
American Association of Geographers (AAG) - Recreation, Tourism & Sport (RTS)
European Regional Science Association (ERSA) Congress
European Society for Rural Sociology Congress (ESRS)
International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS)
Critical Tourism Studies Asia Pacific (CTSAP)
CREATOUR International
Island Studies International Conference (ISIC)
Chinese Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) Biennial Conference
The Japanese Society for Geographical Sciences (JSGS)
meng@cats.hokudai.ac.jp
Research Areas
Tourism Geography, Cultural Geography, New Media Art, Interactive Aesthetics (Augmented/Virtual Reality), Rural Studies, Island Studies, Interdisciplinary Research, Mixed Research Methods
Interests
Research Documentary Film “UKOAPKAS” – Exploring Indigenous Art & Sustainability
How do Aboriginal and Ainu art & designs come together? UKOAPKAS takes you on a journey through a linoprint workshop held in June 2024, showcasing the sustainability and deep respect for materials that define Ainu and Australian Indigenous design. Directed by Assoc. Prof. Meng Qu and produced by Asst. Prof. Kanako Uzawa, the film sparks a dialogue on the possibilities of a sustainable cultural future.
Watch now: https://youtu.be/oFN65Su3X-M