Paradigm Shifts
Hula, Mai Tai, and Ukulele: Audiovisual Touristic Imagination(s) of Hawai’i after World War II
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nathalie Voßkamp
Starting with the end of World War II Hawai’i transformed from an exclusive holiday destination available to only a small segment of the US-American population into an accessible dream destination of the masses. The islands’ conception as a symbol of paradise solidified and Hawai’i functioned as projection space that amalgamated the people’s desire for leisure, exoticness, adventure, and nativeness. The project focuses on the US-American tourism from the mainland to Hawai’i after World War II. It aims at analyzing the audio-visual touristic imagination(s) of Hawai’i found in advertisements by the tourist industry and companies, in newspaper and journal articles, guidebooks, travelogues, and tonal sound concepts. It addresses numerous aspects of the islands such as Native Hawai’ians, traditional Hawai’ian culture and cultural expressions as well as nature and natural landscape. Key issues addressed are, what kind of touristic image of Hawai’i do the primary sources evoke? Which interpretative patterns, keywords, images, symbolisms, and forms of representation shaped the touristic presentation? Which specific aspects contributed to the presentation and perception of Hawai’i as paradise and dream of the South Seas? The project tries to fill the gap between the conscious promotion of Hawai’i as paradise and the question of the impetus of the pursuit of paradise by focusing on the contentual level of the image evoked and by dealing with the concepts of Self and Other, tourist gaze, performativity, consumption of places, informal imperialism, liminality, and paradisiac ideas.
The Emergence of Dining, as a Leisure Practice, in Great Britain
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carina Jane Mansey
The leisure industry has an irrefutable connection with food, which may be why many do not view dining, for leisure purposes, as a contemporary practice. Albeit that it is well documented that restaurants only started emerging in Britain a little over a century ago and tables at them were almost exclusively reserved for privileged male members of societies’ elite. Data that has been collected indicates that this emergent leisure practice was then stunted by both the first and second world wars and subsequent food import restrictions and rationing. Following post-World War Two austerity, there was economic growth and deep discursive shifts in Britain’s organisation, which saw the apparent dilution of social constructs, such as "class," "gender" and "race." This paper will argue that it was these conditions that led to a perceived inclusivity that began to be observed in British leisure practices of the 70s, which aided the growth of the modern dining industry. Yet, did dining really become an inclusive leisure practice? This paper seeks to outline and unpack narratives, using a methodology that follows the tradition of historical sociology, in order to not only further delineate the emergence of dining, as a leisure practice, in Britain, but to also assess if the social systems of power, evident in early restaurants, were deconstructed or if they remain attached to this segment of the leisure industry.
Roots Tourism: Diasporic African-Americans Returning Home in Search of Identity?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alana Dillette
The African diaspora’s "re‐migration" to presumed homelands in Africa has been steadily gaining popularity among African-Americans for some time now. With the emergence of the Black Travel Movement, including organizations and companies that cater specifically towards Black travelers – the industry has seen a surge in travelers wanting to "go home" (Dillette, Benjamin & Carpenter, 2018). This idea of returning to the homeland is permeated with symbolism and social meaning for many, especially in our current political climate. Though the industry has witnessed a boom in this type of "roots tourism" – research on these experiences is very limited (Mensah, 2015). In order to address this gap, this research study explored the lived experiences of African-American roots travelers on a trip Ghana, West Africa. Using an ethnographic case study approach, data was collected from participants before, during and after their experience. Preliminary findings reveal a form of ‘double consciousness’ as coined by W.E.B. Du Bois and a sense of heightened civic duty as a result of the travel experience. This work will focus not only on the research findings, but also on the connection between roots tourism and valuing diversity and culture in the tourism experience.
