Ninth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

This paper focuses on unravelling the rituals, performances and recalled experiences of travellers’ airport border encounters - interactions between travellers and the destination’s immigration officials. Using the concept of assemblage, this study unpacks the emotions and discourses that underpin the multiplicity of airport border encounters, as well as seeks to understand how travel experiences are shaped and overshadowed by the intersections of passport, identity, race and border practices. Situated in a critical interpretivist paradigm, this study adopted a combined approach of memorywork (Small, 1999) and narrative inquiry (Pennegar & Daynes, 2007) to surface multiple meanings and understandings of travellers’ border encounters, especially from those who hold weak passports. Preliminary findings revealed a multitude of negative emotions associated with border encounters, ranging from anxiety, uncertainty, trauma, humiliation, embarrassment and self-doubt/blame. For many, the excitement of arrival is replaced by stereotypical separation, isolation and public interrogation. Travellers often fell into a petrifying immobility and had to defend their identity and legitimacy of entry, despite carrying all correct documentation. This study adds to the ongoing debates on mobility injustice in travel, with narratives on the problematic, unethical and power-infused nature of airport border space. This calls for further attention to the various challenges that travellers face from both academia and industry.