Suspending reality: An exploration of enclaves and the backpacker experience

Show simplified metadata
dc.contributor.authorWilson,Julie
dc.contributor.authorRichards,Greg
dc.contributor.institutionLeisure Studies
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-01T11:15:30Z
dc.date.available2025-02-01T11:15:30Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractBackpacker enclaves have become important arenas for social and cultural exchange and identity formation. As customised spaces catering for visitors, they provide home comforts as well as points of contact with home for those on the road. Backpackers striving to experience something different often end up surrounded by the extended familiarity of home even in the most remote destinations. This problematises concepts such as the rite de passage or culture shock, which suggest a sudden and substantial shift between home and away. The concept of suspension is put forward as an alternative model, which sees culture shock and reversal being deferred by taking refuge in the enclave, providing difference without seriously challenging the basic cultural and social norms of the visitor. The suspended experiences in traveller enclaves are neither here nor there – not here because the real experience is outside the enclave, and not there because of the familiar surroundings of the enclave. Drawing on research from Bangkok and Sydney, this paper examines the way in which the roles of hosts and guests are negotiated in enclaves. Suspended environments provide a relatively neutral space in which the cultural knowledge of the host can be offered as a gateway to the authentic experiences outside the enclave. The neutral space of the enclave also provides the locals with the opportunity to consume the exotic cultures brought by the visitors in a safe way. The enclave therefore becomes a tool for mediating cultures, so that culture confusion is avoided from both sides, although true reversal is also prevented by the constructed familiarity of the enclave.en
dc.description.categoryScientific
dc.description.statusPeer reviewed
dc.identifier.authororcidWilson, Julie
dc.identifier.authororcidRichards, Greg§0000-0002-5903-6310
dc.identifier.citationWilson, J & Richards, G 2008, 'Suspending reality : An exploration of enclaves and the backpacker experience', Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 187-202. https://doi.org/10.2167/cit371.0
dc.identifier.doi10.2167/cit371.0
dc.identifier.issn1368-3500
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-5903-6310/work/18757617
dc.identifier.pure29858044
dc.identifier.purepermalinkhttps://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/e918a24e-3957-43ea-ab78-cd82e306a1fc
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/71271
dc.identifier.urlhttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/41749094731
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.rights.coverpagestatementGeneral rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. - Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. - You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain - You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal" Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
dc.rights.rightsholder(c) Universiteit van Tilburg
dc.source.beginpage187
dc.source.endpage202
dc.source.issue2
dc.source.journaltitleCurrent Issues in Tourism
dc.source.metadatavisibilityFREE
dc.source.publicationstatuspublished
dc.source.volume11
dc.source.workflowstateapproved
dc.titleSuspending reality: An exploration of enclaves and the backpacker experienceen
dc.typeArticle
Files
Collections
Tilburg University Research Output Collection