Sense of community and well-being in diaspora festivals

Abstract

This study was prompted by a lack of empirical research addressing the overlap between sense of community and eudemonic well-being components, the limited attention paid to immigrant perspectives in well-being studies, and the presence of under-researched type of festival and population. To address these gaps, this study aimed to identify the dimensions of sense of community and the well-being outcomes of diaspora festivals. The study targeted an understudied group and its festivals: those of the Ethiopian diaspora community in the United States. Guided by the constructivist grounded theory method, the study obtained data through guided interviews, and simultaneously analyzed them to construct six domains of a sense of community applicable to diaspora festivals. The six elements of a sense of community were a sense of belonging, a sense of togetherness, serving the com­munity, recognition, social support, and connection with diaspora, and comprised at least one eudemonic well-being component. Engagement, positive relationships, finding meaning in life, and a sense of achievement, were inherent in more than three of the six domains of a sense of community. Other well-being elements such as physical health and spirituality were evident in one domain. In conclusion, this study offers theoretical contributions to festival tourism, community psychology, human/tourism geography, and positive psychology research in multiple ways.

Keywords:

• Sense of community
• human geography
• festivals
• well-being
• diaspora
• mental health
• tourism
• positive psychology
• constructivist grounded theory
• social sustainability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ermias Kifle Gedecho

Ermias Kifle Gedecho, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is the recipient of the Best PhD Thesis Award 2022/23 from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has a wide range of research interests in the field of tourism, event, and hospitality management.

Seongseop (Sam) Kim

Seongseop (Sam) Kim, PhD, is Professor in the School of Hotel & Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include tourism impacts, sustainability, new technology and tourism, event/convention tourism, and tourism and hospitality marketing.

Honggen Xiao

Honggen Xiao, PhD (Waterloo), is Professor and Assistant Dean at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management. He researches and facilitates learning in areas such as knowledge development, qualitative inquiries, leisure and society, tourism and culture, and China tourism. He is Co-editor of Encyclopedia of Tourism (Springer 2016, 2024) and Co-author of Poverty and Prosperity: Tourism in Rural China (Emerald 2023). He is also Fellow of the International Association for China Tourism Studies.