Beyond convention: reimagining indigenous tourism

ABSTRACT

As a knowledge domain, contemporary indigenous tourism is framed in reference to cultures conventionally recognized as ‘indigenous,’ and engages this almost exclusively from a supply-side perspective. This paper reimagines indigeneity and indigenous tourism as embracing also the other 94% of global population. From a utilitarian perspective, this inclusion of ‘nonconventional indigenous people’ harbors opportunities to advance the sustainability agenda by reconnecting modern mainstream cultures, through personal exposure in dispersed settings, with ancestral roots and associated sustainable livelihoods. Such reconnections are framed as a form of re-indigenization that may be especially attractive to ‘travel promiscuous’ diasporic populations such as those found in the ‘settler’ countries of Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Articulation of this concept could be facilitated by existing knowledge domains and products in heritage tourism, rural tourism, and urban tourism, as well as sustainable tourism. Rather than usurping conventional indigenous efforts to re-indigenize and re-empower, it is contended that the nonconventional dimension can coexist with and even reinforce the latter, while enriching the dimensions of indigenous tourism as a dynamic knowledge domain.

 

摘要 当代本土旅游, 作为一个知识领域, 框定在常规的被看作“本土性”的文化框架中, 几乎完全从供给方的角度开展。本文重新想象了本土性和本土旅游, 涵盖其他94%的全球人口。从务实的角度, 把非常规的本土人民涵盖进来, 重新通过个人在不同环境下的体验, 把现代主流文化与先祖文化及相关的可持续生计方式联系起来, 将有机会推动可持续性研究议程。这种把现代主流文化与先祖文化的重新连接看作一种再本土化的过程, 它可能会对那些在加拿大、美国、澳大利亚和新西兰等定居者国家存在的混杂旅行的离散人口有吸引力。现有遗产旅游、乡村旅游、城市旅游以及可持续旅游的知识与产品有助于阐明这个概念。不是垄断再本土化再赋权的常规的本土化措施, 相反它主张非常规的本土化维度可以与常规的本土化措施共存甚至会强化后者, 同时非常规的本土化措施可以把本土旅游作为一个动态的知识领域而丰富本土旅游的维度。

KEYWORDS:

• Diaspora
• indigeneity
• indigenous people
• heritage tourism
• indigenous tourism
• re-indigenization
• rural tourism
• sustainable tourism

关键词:

• 离散
• 本土性
• 本土居民
• 遗产旅游
• 本土旅游
• 再本土化
• 乡村旅游
• 可持续旅游

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David B. Weaver

David Weaver has published more than 120 journal articles, book chapters, and books. His specialties include sustainable destination management, ecotourism, and resident perceptions of tourism. He is a fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism and has delivered numerous invited keynote addresses on innovative tourism topics.