Suzanne de la Barre, PhD (Alberta), M? Environmental Studies (York), BA Human Geography (Ottawa). Office: B250 R372 Phone: (250) 753.3245 local 2833 email: Suzanne.delaBarre@viu.ca Suzanne's research interests include qualitative methodologies in tourism and the critical/cultural turn, identity and representation processes in tourism place-making and place-marketing, economic and community development, gender, and tourism in remote and peripheral areas, with a particular focus on circumpolar and Arctic regions. Her current Sweden-based and case study research is undertaken through her role as Research Associate with the Department of Social and Economic Geography at Umeå University in northern Sweden. The research is funded by the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (also referred to as "MISTRA"), and examines tourism in relation to community development and economic diversification in mining intense areas in northern Sweden and the Yukon (Canada). Suzanne is also a Research Associate with Yukon College (Yukon), a member of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG), the Nordic Society for Tourism and Hospitality Research (NORTHORS), and a steering committee member for the International Polar Tourism Research Network (IPTRN).

Suzanne De La Barre Suzanne De La Barre University-College Professor Phone: (250) 753-3245, Local 2833

Dr. Suzanne de la Barre, a long time Yukon resident, began her doctoral research with a fascination for Yukoners' "sense of place" - our relationship to Yukon through how we talk about it and how that informs our selling of it as a tourist destination. Suzanne believes that this place identity and cultural geography could play a bigger role in how we think about, develop and implement sustainable tourism in Yukon. In her doctoral research, Suzanne set out to create a framework to better understand our sense of place and then explore how it can be used to inform our approach to sustainability. In the initial stages of the study, she examined a wide range of media including newspapers, magazines and film, as well as tourism marketing materials, and identified three dominant themes in the stories we tell and experiences we sell. Suzanne also interviewed 16 wilderness and cultural guides across a broad spectrum of activities, and was an observing participant in 15 winter and summer tourist experiences. In this part of her research, Suzanne was looking to see what stories were shared by wilderness and cultural tour guides and how these stories impacted the design and delivery of the tourism experiences they offered to visitors. Suzanne's overall goal was to identify how sense of place can contribute to more creative ways of defining and implementing sustainable tourism. Please join Suzanne as she gives a very visual presentation of her research as part of the Yukon College Brown Bag Lunch Speaker Series on Tuesday October 23 from Noon-1pm in room A2206 (the Lecture Hall). www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/hub Dr. Suzanne de la Barre is faculty with the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management, Vancouver Island University, and a Research Associate with Umeå University (Sweden) and Yukon College.

Lecturer: Dr. Suzanne de la Barre UmeaUniversity / Sweden

Dr. Suzanne de la Barre Yukon College: Brown Bag Lunch: Speaker Series Yukon College: Start Here Go Anywhere Dr. Suzanne de la Barre Dr. Suzanne de la Barre is a Professor with the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management, Vancouver Island University, and a Research Associate with Umeå University (Sweden) and Yukon College. Suzanne has a keen interest in (and a big soft spot for) "sense of place". A long time Yukon resident, she uses place identity and cultural geography as way to explore and advance meaning-based approaches to how we define and implement sustainable tourism. Suzanne examines guide place identity narratives (stories) in relation to how they are deployed in the design and delivery of guided tourism activities. She then analyzes guide tourism activities for how they engage with sustainable tourism. Just back from a two-year research fellowship in northern Sweden, Suzanne will present highlights from the doctoral research she completed in 2009.