Abstract
There is a new trend emerging in sporting tourism: martial art destination training camps. These camps are based in the places of ‘origin’ of certain martial arts such as Muay Thai in Thailand, Judo in Japan and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil. In my study, I examine how the transnational physical cultural hotspot of Phuket, Thailand draws sports tourists from the global north to train Muay Thai in Thailand. Through my critical institutional embodied ethnography of a Muay Thai camp I found that training camps sell a particular ‘authentic’ mythology of Thailand as the land of Muay Thai as well as selling Phuket as an exotic locale of sun, sand and surf. This form of sports tourist consumption allows for a primarily western demographic of tourists to transform their bodies in healthified spaces vis-à-vis biopedagogical practices. Consequently, the local Thai population functions within a racial capitalism framework that impoverishes discourses surrounding race and ingrains racial hierarchy due to commodifying racial identity. Thus, this leads to precarity of Thai trainers and staff and the furthering of health disparities due to prolonged exposure to combat sports. This paper addresses discriminatory structures and uneven power relations at a sports tourist training camp and suggests more ethical alternatives to this form of sports tourism.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Critical Issues in Tourism and Leisure Studies
KEYWORDS
Sports Tourism; Martialscapes; Racial Capitalism; Precarity; Authenticity; Self-Transformation; Pleasurable Recreation
