Crossley, Dr Émilie

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Researcher

Center for Advanced Tourism Studies (CATS), emilie.crossley@elms.hokudai.ac.jp emilie.crossley@cats.hokudai.ac.jpHokkaido University
Research interests / activities

I am currently conducting a multi-sited multispecies ethnography of Ezo red foxes (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) involved in the tourism industry in Japan. This research aims to shed light on tourists’ desire for close, embodied encounters with wild animals who are perceived as being ‘cute’ and the exploitation that can occur as a result. An example of this is ‘fox hugs’ in which tourists pay to hold and have their photograph taken with a fox. Through a transdisciplinary approach, I aim to evoke vulpine experience and explore the possibilities for respectful encounters between humans and red foxes through tourism. More broadly, I have interests in multispecies flourishing, entangled empathy and animal personhood.

Outputs

Crossley, É. (2022). Responsible animal tourism in Japan: Opportunities for a ‘guilt-free’ future. Wakayama Tourism Review, 3, 20–22. https://doi.org/10.19002/24363839.3.20

Crossley, É. (2022). Wildlife touching untouched by COVID-19: The case of ‘fox hugs’ in Japan. In L. Lockstone-Binney, A. Kralj, & B. Moyle (Eds.), CAUTHE 2022: Shaping the Next Normal in Tourism, Hospitality and Events (pp. 491–493). Griffith University.

Crossley, É. (2022, October 30–November 3). Commodified red fox feeding encounters in Japan’s wildlife tourism industry. [Paper presentation]. Wildlife Tourism Australia Conference, Brisbane, Australia.

Crossley, É. (2022, March 17–18). What does the fox say? Foregrounding vulpine voices in Japanese wildlife tourism. [Paper presentation]. Emerging Voices for Animals in Tourism Virtual Conference.

Crossley, É. (2021, December 3–4). Naming Ezo red foxes in Japanese zoos: The ethics of constructing animal personhood. [Paper presentation]. Reframing Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

Crossley, É. (2020). Japanese animal tourism and the kawaii (cute) aesthetic. Scope: Contemporary Research Topics (Art & Design), 19, 65–71. http://doi.org/10.34074/scop.1019013

Crossley, É. (2020). Ecological grief generates desire for environmental healing in tourism after COVID-19. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 536–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1759133

Website/blog
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emilie-Crossley