Rate My Professor Pooneh Torabian

Pooneh Torabian is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago, within the Otago Business School, where she joined in 2019. She holds a PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Torabian's scholarship employs an interdisciplinary approach to explore how intersections of identities including race, gender, and class shape international mobilities. She investigates concepts of citizenship, freedom of movement, and border crossings, alongside the role of arts and leisure in facilitating resettlement, homemaking, and reintegration for marginalised communities such as refugees. Her expertise encompasses international tourism mobilities post-9/11, citizenship and international border crossings, arts and leisure in community reintegration, and leisure in corrections.

Torabian has co-edited the book Justice in Tourism Destinations: Avenues for Destination Governance and Management (Routledge, 2025) with Julia N. Albrecht, authoring the introduction and a chapter on justice in tourism destination governance. She contributes to the Handbook of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Tourism (2026). Selected publications include 'Insurgent citizens: mobility (in)justice and international travel' (Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2022), 'Covid-19 Vaccine Passports: Global Inequalities and Entangled Mobilities' (2024), 'Onto-Epistemological and Theoretical Engagements Through Praxis and Beyond: Comfort, Crises, Shifts, and Re-Groupings' (Leisure Sciences, 2018), '(Re)constructing the Canadian border: Anti-mobilities and tourism' (Tourist Studies, 2017), and 'The memory-work sessions: Exploring critical pedagogy in tourism' (Tourism Analysis, 2017). With 192 citations, her work influences discussions on mobility justice and inclusive tourism. Torabian supervises PhD and Master's students on mobilities, migration, belonging, and tourism experiences. She leads arts-based projects with Afghan refugee women for community integration and co-organizes the Crossing Borders Symposium. Affiliations include the Centre for Global Migrations and Middle East and Islamic Studies Aotearoa.