Tara Ruttenberg, Ph.D.
Writer, free surfer, research consultant and PhD in Development Studies (Wageningen University, 2022), with specialization in political ecology, critical surf tourism studies, and regenerative networks. Tara holds a Masters in International Peace Studies (UN-Mandated University for Peace of Costa Rica, 2008) and a Bachelors of Science in Foreign Service (Georgetown University, 2007).
Tara currently works as seminar leader and principal lecturer for Global Environmental Studies (KulturStudier/OsloMet). Formerly, she was lead instructor for Conservation Ecology & Sustainable Development in Southern Costa Rica (Wildlands Studies) and teaching assistant and program coordinator for Surfing & Sustainability: Political Ecology in Costa Rica (University of Georgia). Tara is also an independent researcher, consultant and member of the Community Economies Research Network.
Tara's work has been featured in books like the Waves of Belonging: Indigeneity, Race and Gender in the Surfing Lineup; Cultivating Sustainability: Food systems cases, challenges, and solutions from Costa Rica; The Critical Surf Studies Reader; Lessons from the Eco-Laboratory: Environmental Governance and Economic Development in Costa Rica; and The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Development; in peer-reviewed academic journals including Tourism Geographies; Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism; Tourism Planning & Development; and Sport & Tourism; at conferences including Impact Zones & Liminal Spaces, Deep Ecology of Wellness, Envision Festival, Surf + Social Good, ECHO, and the Institute for Women Surfers; as well as online and in print with Sea Together, Sea Maven, Elephant Journal, The Huffington Post, The Inertia, Sunshine Surf Girls, Yoga Trade, 7 Mares, Desert Jewels, and more. Tara has also appeared on a number of podcasts, including Tourism Geographies, Surfing Historian, Swell Season Radio, Salted Spirit, Second Breakfast, the Oceanriders Podcast, and iSurfTribe.
Tara created Tarantula Surf as a platform for authentic sharing and engaging with regenerative and community-based approaches to tourism, conservation, and development. As a brand ambassador for Dkoko Bikinis, a Costa Rican women-owned sustainable swimwear brand, Tara lives most of the time at the beach in Costa Rica.
Read Tara's stories, learn more about community surf tourism strategies, shop creative writing programs, or join Tara on retreat in southern Costa Rica.
Some of Tara’s recent academic publications are available at the links below:
Critical Localisms and Commons Governance in Occupied Surfscapes, published December 3, 2025 by Tourism Geographies.
Revisiting Governmentality in Surf Tourism Governance: A Diverse Ecologies Approach, published January 8, 2025 by Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism.
Alternatives to Development in Surfing Tourism: A Diverse Economies Approach, published May 17, 2022 by Tourism Planning & Development.
Gender, Race and Researcher Positionality in Decolonial Surf Tourism Research: Lessons from the Field, published August 8, 2022 by Journal of Sport & Tourism.
You can read Tara’s doctoral thesis here: Decolonizing Surf Tourism: Alternatives to Development, Surfer Subjectivity, and Surfscape Commons Governance.