Browsing by Author "Higgins-Desbiolles F"

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    Decolonising tourism and development: from orphanage tourism to community empowerment in Cambodia
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2022-02-20) Higgins-Desbiolles F; Scheyvens RA; Bhatia B
    Tourism has been viewed as a development pathway, with alternative tourisms such as volunteer tourism perceived as promising. However, critics have highlighted how white saviourism and Western ideologies of superiority may underpin both development agendas and activities like volunteer tourism. The COVID crisis has impacted both tourism and international development and calls for rethinking. This case study is situated at the intersections of tourism, development and humanitarianism. It charts the evolution of the Cambodian Children’s Trust which emerged in 2007 from the co-founding of an orphanage by an Australian volunteer tourist and a local Khmer leader. Through a process of conscientisation, the orphanage has given way to a community development approach under the leadership of a 100 percent Khmer team in country, leaving footprints of empowering spaces rather than dependency structures. This article addresses the research question of how might we transform the paternalistic desire to “do good” found in both voluntourism and development into a practice of mutual solidarity? Illuminating issues of power and inequality in Western-led models, this article offers a framework for more just partnerships based on Freirian praxis: dialogue building critical consciousness, co-development of transformative praxis, capacity sharing and trust in the capabilities of the people.
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    Indigenous scholars struggle to be heard in the mainstream. Here’s how journal editors and reviewers can help.
    (The Conversation Media Group Ltd, 2021-04-12) Movono A; Carr A; Hughes E; Higgins-Desbiolles F; Hapeta JW; Scheyvens R; Stewart-Withers R
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    Whose justice? Social (in)justice in tourism boycotts
    (Elsevier B.V., 2023-07-05) Seyfi S; Rastegar R; Kuhzady S; Hall CM; Saarinen J; Higgins-Desbiolles F
    Boycotting has long been acclaimed as an exemplary nonviolent tactic utilized in the pursuit of social justice. Guided by justice and political consumerism literature and using critical media discourse analysis, this study sought to investigate the portrayal of social justice in tourists' discourses surrounding travel boycott campaigns against Myanmar. While online narratives exhibit genuine concern for justice and morality, this research elucidates variations in the expression and application of justice, thereby emphasizing the intricate moral decision-making faced by tourists. Overall, this paper illustrates how social justice discourses may be usurped by tourists as a means to blunt justice narratives, calling for a new ‘moral turn’ in research that is more sensitive yet critical towards social justice in politicized tourism consumption.