Social narratives constructed through tourism : the role of relationality to engage with place

Abstract

My thesis explores the social and cultural dynamics surrounding the role of tour guides as conveyers of the narrative identities of place. Touristic marketing is a political space where the place-based identity is negotiated between governments, industries, and communities. The globalization of tourism media invites greater consumers control in the construction of touristic narratives of place. Similarly, tour guides, as social actors in the tourism industry, play influential roles in the construction and dissemination of defining narratives. The relations that shape perceptions, popular narratives, and aesthetics associated with destinations are made through experiences with place. The experiences shaping the social relations between tour guides, tour guests, and the tours themselves contribute to the construction of socio-cultural narratives. I base my research in Homer, Alaska, a popular tourism destination with particular aesthetics and narratives that perceive the town and the state as “wild”, “untouched”, and “frontier”. From my own experience working as a kayak tour guide and through the interviews I conducted with tour guides, I reveal ways in which tourism models can be reenvisioned to complicate colonial and capitalist legacies within tourism. In my research, I considered the ways tour guides in Homer define and relate to their roles, as well as how they perceive their involvement in the production of place. Through studying the methods of kayak companies in Homer, Alaska I consider a nuanced influence tour guides have in reshaping touristic imaginaries. I found that the methods and tactics developed by kayak guides in Homer remodeled tourism practices in ways that mediate the extractivism intrinsic in the tourism industry. These practices I believe to be applicable to consumer-producer dynamics that mirror host-guest relations in tourism globally.