This book addresses the touristic valorisation of areas of urban poverty, tourist’s role in makin... more This book addresses the touristic valorisation of areas of urban poverty, tourist’s role in making slums into must-see attractions, places of tourist intervention and attention, places of discovery and meaningful experience. Tourism in slums takes the form of organized tours, hospitality and other services provided to tourists as well as the related imaginaries and representations of slums as they circulate among tourists.
Based on two years of research in Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, in various cities in South Africa, Kenya and India, the book develops a comprehensive account of tourist valorisation in slum tourism in the global south. Slum tourism is not a new phenomenon and has been discussed to some extent both in historical and contemporary perspective. The book, building on existing research, points to aspects and effects of slum tourism that have so far been overlooked:
1) It extents existing scholarship on tourism’s role in urban regeneration and gentrification and it sheds light on these processes in cities in the developing world and in slums. 2) It looks at tourism’s role in local politics, in lifting the stigma of slums, in helping to overcome slum’s isolation and in improving security. It shows how slum residents sometimes struggle with (and sometimes against) tourists for their right to the city. 3) It shows how tourism has become part of urban policy schemes that attempt to harness its potential role in upgrading and improving slums. 4) It points to the emergence of new forms of international development, where slum tourism is part of new ‘experience-based’ and ‘peer to peer’ approaches to funding and organisation.
Slum tourism is a globalizing trend and a controversial form of tourism. Impoverished urban areas... more Slum tourism is a globalizing trend and a controversial form of tourism. Impoverished urban areas have always enticed the popular imagination, considered to be places of ‘otherness’, ‘moral decay’, ‘deviant liberty’ or ‘authenticity’. ‘Slumming’ has a long tradition in the Global North, for example in Victorian London when the upper classes toured the East End. What is new, however, is its development dynamics and its rapidly spreading popularity across the globe. Township tourism and favela tourism have currently reached mass tourism characteristics in South Africa and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In other countries of the Global South, slum tourism now also occurs and providers see huge growth potential.
While the morally controversial practice of slum tourism has raised much attention and opinionated debates in the media for several years, academic research has only recently started addressing it as a global phenomenon. This edition provides the first systematic overview of the field and the diverse issues connected to slum tourism. This multidisciplinary collection is unique both in its conceptual and empirical breadth. Its chapters indicate that ‘global slumming’ is not merely a controversial and challenging topic in itself, but also offers an apt lens through which to discuss core concepts in critical tourism studies in a global perspective, in particular: ‘poverty’, ‘power’ and ‘ethics’.
Building on research by prolific researchers from ten different countries, the book provides a comprehensive and unique insight in the current empirical, practical and theoretical knowledge on the subject. It takes a thorough and critical review of issues associated with slum tourism, asking why slums are visited, whether they should be visited, how they are represented, who is benefiting from it and in what way. It offers new insights to tourism's role in poverty alleviation and urban regeneration, power relations in contact zones and tourism's cultural and political implications.
Drawing on research from four continents and seven different countries, and from multidisciplinary perspectives, this ground-breaking volume will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in this contemporary form of tourism.
Since 2012, there has been a significant growth in tourism in inner city Johannesburg. Some of th... more Since 2012, there has been a significant growth in tourism in inner city Johannesburg. Some of this tourism materialises as walking tours in disadvantaged and relatively poor inner city neighbourhoods, some of which were until recently considered no-go areas. In a paper published in Urban Forum in 2014 (Frenzel 2014), I have analysed this new phenomenon in the context of slum tourism. I define slum tourism as such forms of tourism where poverty and associated signifiers become central themes and (part of the) attraction of the visited destination. Following a broad empirical research project, Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017) have questioned whether the concept slum tourism should be used when discussing tourism in inner city Johannesburg. This paper forms a response to the paper of Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017).
Tourist agency is an area of renewed interest in tourism studies. Reflecting on existing scholars... more Tourist agency is an area of renewed interest in tourism studies. Reflecting on existing scholarship the paper identifies, develops and critically examines three main approaches to tourism agency, namely the Service-dominant logic, the performative turn, and tourist valorisation. Tourist valorisation is proposed as a useful approach to theorise the role of tourists in the making of destinations and more broadly to conceptualise the intentions, modalities and outcomes of tourist agency. The paper contributes to the structuring of current scholarship on tourist agency. Empirically it addresses a knowledge gap concerning the role of tourists in the development of Dharavi, Mumbai into a tourist destination.
This article provides a view on the state-of-the-art literature on slum tourism. It points to the... more This article provides a view on the state-of-the-art literature on slum tourism. It points to the rapid growth of slum tourism research in recent years and highlights the main avenues that research has thus far explored in areas such as slum tourism history, slum tourist subjectivity, resident perspectives, slum tourism operations, economics, and mobilities. With the advent of slum tourism the relationship of poverty and tourism has changed. Tourism is no longer only a means to fight poverty, but poverty is an attraction of tourism. This has consequences for the relationship of slum tourism to other forms of tourism where poverty functions as an attraction, like volunteer or developmental tourism. The article identifies research gaps as well as avenues for further research.
The paper examines the role of slum tourism in poverty relief. To do so, it surveys the state-of-... more The paper examines the role of slum tourism in poverty relief. To do so, it surveys the state-of-the-art literature on tourism and poverty and investigates the ways in which slum tourism research relates to this literature. Slum tou- rism research has addressed the question of how the poor may benefit from this practice; however, these efforts have not systematically considered the general debate on tourism and poverty relief. The survey of slum tourism research also contributes to the conceptual development of the tourism-poverty nexus. The predominant choice of ap- proaches in this field relies on quantitative indicators of poverty relief, but these do not sufficiently account for the multi-dimensional character of poverty. The study of slum tourism research points to the multi-dimensional valorisa- tion of poverty in tourism which is an aspect often overlooked in the state-of-the-art research on tourism and poverty.
Much attention has been paid to township tourism in South Africa, a practice of tourism that emer... more Much attention has been paid to township tourism in South Africa, a practice of tourism that emerged in Apartheid South Africa with different organised tours catering for governmental officials, faith-based groups and anti-apartheid activists. In democratic South Africa, township tourism has developed into a mainstream tourism activity, and operators now offer township tours, township stays and other tourist activities in townships across rural and urban South Africa. Township tourism has also been one central empirical pillar of the relatively new research area of slum tourism, addressing tourism in slums and areas of relative urban poverty across the globe. Based on recent preliminary empirical research in Johannesburg, this paper shows that slum tourism can now also be observed in areas other than townships in South Africa, including perceived ‘no-go areas’ in inner-city Johannesburg. The expansion of slum tourism beyond townships in Johannesburg points to an increasingly complex picture of urban poverty in South Africa. It also allows reflections on the role of slum tourism in poverty alleviation and urban regeneration, responding to and addressing ‘territorial stigma’ and other related symbolic aspects of poverty. Analysing the motivations and perspectives of tour operators of some of these new tours, the paper finds that the new slum tourism in South Africa is pursued in order to serve as an urban development and regeneration tool from below. It responds to an absence of action or perceived failure to respond to poverty by urban policy, and its potential lies in particular in addressing invisibility, overcoming territorial stigma and empowerment of the urban poor.
In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city whic... more In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city which has appropriated the discourse of the creative industries from the bottom up in order to foster its regeneration against capital’s art of rent. We show how Stokes Croft’s self-branding as a cultural quarter has led to struggles over the creative and cultural commons thus produced, which we conceptualise as value struggles where localised value practices clash with capital’s imposition of value. Our case study including two vignettes points both to the productivity of such value struggles in producing new value practices understood as commoning, as well as the limits of reproducing a common life in the face of existing financial and property regimes. Stokes Croft therefore serves as a case in point of the tragedy of the urban commons and points to potential ways of overcoming it.
Protest camps have become a prominent feature of the post-2010 cycle of social movements and whil... more Protest camps have become a prominent feature of the post-2010 cycle of social movements and while they have gripped the public and media's imagination, the phenomenon of protest camping is not new. The practice and performance of creating protest camps has a rich history, which has evolved through multiple movements, from Anti-Apartheid to Anti-war. However, until recently, the history of the protest camp as part of the repertoire of social movements and as a site for the evolution of a social movement's repertoire has largely been confined to the histories of individual movements. Consequently, connections between movements, between camps and the significance of the protest camp itself have been overlooked. In this research profile, we argue for the importance of studying protest camps in relation to social movements and the evolution of repertoires noting how protest camps adapt infrastructures and practices from tent cities, festival cultures, squatting communities and land-based autonomous movements. We also acknowledge protest camps as key sites in which a variety of repertoires of contention are developed, tried and tested, diffused or sometimes dismissed. To facilitate the study protest camps we suggest a theory and practice of ‘infrastructural analysis’ and differentiated between four protest camp infrastructures: (1) media & communication, (2) action, (3) governance and (4) re-creation. We then use the infrastructures of media and communications as a brief example as to how our proposed infrastructural analysis can contribute to the study of repertoires and our understanding of the rich dynamics of a protest camp.
This paper investigates how slums are made into a tourism attraction. We focus in particular on t... more This paper investigates how slums are made into a tourism attraction. We focus in particular on the role of tour guides and tour guiding operations in this process. In tourism literature in general tour guiding has been subject to much reflection and debate. However, tour guides’ role in enabling tourism in new places, in the making of attractions has not been discussed much. Also, in the emerging research on slum tourism little attention has been given to tour guides and their roles. This paper addresses both research gaps in providing insights into tour guiding in slum tourism, and by addressing the roles of tour guides in attraction-making through a comparative analysis of tourism in two slums, Dharavi, in Mumbai, India, and Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya. Based on empirical research of tour guiding operations we found that different levels of formality in tour guiding co-exist across destinations. Formal tour guiding operations are more successful in establishing a slum as an attraction as they enable significant growth in tourist numbers. However, formal tour guiding operations and strong international participation in their foundation are factors that seem to undermine to some extent the creation of intimate and authentic encounters in tour guiding, preferred by some tourists. This leaves space for more informal tour guiding, with strong local ties, which are better placed to produce intimate experiences.
Alternative media form an important part of the global mediascape. Research on this phenomenon is... more Alternative media form an important part of the global mediascape. Research on this phenomenon is, however, often drawn from studies in the `global North'. In this paper we discuss alternative media in the `global South', by exploring two case studies of cooperation between Northern and Southern partners: IFIWatchnet in South America, and Indymedia Centre in Africa.We highlight how Northern and Southern partners differed in identity, organizational forms, and accountability. We find that Northern partners were oriented to more `marginal' identities, fluid organizational structures, and informal structures of accountability. In contrast, Southern activists articulated more 'mainstream' identities, relied on more structured forms, and linked to formalized modes of accountability. The result was often significant clashes over what it meant to be alternative media, how alternative media should be organized, and how people should be held to account. This meant that North - South cooperation was often fraught with struggle. These difficulties are reminiscent of the limitations of creating global cooperation through seeking to spread modes of activist organization developed in the North, which emphasize autonomy, networks, fluidity, and, in some instances, direct action.
In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city whic... more In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city which has appropriated the discourse of the creative industries from the bottom up in order to foster
its regeneration against capital’s art of rent. We show how Stokes Croft’s self-branding as a cultural quarter has led to struggles over the creative and cultural commons thus produced, which
we conceptualise as value struggles where localised value practices clash with capital’s imposition of value. Our case study including two vignettes points both to the productivity of such value struggles in producing new value practices understood as commoning, as well as the limits of reproducing a common life in the face of existing financial and property regimes. Stokes Croft therefore serves as a case in point of the tragedy of the urban commons and points to potential ways of overcoming it.
This book addresses the touristic valorisation of areas of urban poverty, tourist’s role in makin... more This book addresses the touristic valorisation of areas of urban poverty, tourist’s role in making slums into must-see attractions, places of tourist intervention and attention, places of discovery and meaningful experience. Tourism in slums takes the form of organized tours, hospitality and other services provided to tourists as well as the related imaginaries and representations of slums as they circulate among tourists.
Based on two years of research in Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, in various cities in South Africa, Kenya and India, the book develops a comprehensive account of tourist valorisation in slum tourism in the global south. Slum tourism is not a new phenomenon and has been discussed to some extent both in historical and contemporary perspective. The book, building on existing research, points to aspects and effects of slum tourism that have so far been overlooked:
1) It extents existing scholarship on tourism’s role in urban regeneration and gentrification and it sheds light on these processes in cities in the developing world and in slums. 2) It looks at tourism’s role in local politics, in lifting the stigma of slums, in helping to overcome slum’s isolation and in improving security. It shows how slum residents sometimes struggle with (and sometimes against) tourists for their right to the city. 3) It shows how tourism has become part of urban policy schemes that attempt to harness its potential role in upgrading and improving slums. 4) It points to the emergence of new forms of international development, where slum tourism is part of new ‘experience-based’ and ‘peer to peer’ approaches to funding and organisation.
Slum tourism is a globalizing trend and a controversial form of tourism. Impoverished urban areas... more Slum tourism is a globalizing trend and a controversial form of tourism. Impoverished urban areas have always enticed the popular imagination, considered to be places of ‘otherness’, ‘moral decay’, ‘deviant liberty’ or ‘authenticity’. ‘Slumming’ has a long tradition in the Global North, for example in Victorian London when the upper classes toured the East End. What is new, however, is its development dynamics and its rapidly spreading popularity across the globe. Township tourism and favela tourism have currently reached mass tourism characteristics in South Africa and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In other countries of the Global South, slum tourism now also occurs and providers see huge growth potential.
While the morally controversial practice of slum tourism has raised much attention and opinionated debates in the media for several years, academic research has only recently started addressing it as a global phenomenon. This edition provides the first systematic overview of the field and the diverse issues connected to slum tourism. This multidisciplinary collection is unique both in its conceptual and empirical breadth. Its chapters indicate that ‘global slumming’ is not merely a controversial and challenging topic in itself, but also offers an apt lens through which to discuss core concepts in critical tourism studies in a global perspective, in particular: ‘poverty’, ‘power’ and ‘ethics’.
Building on research by prolific researchers from ten different countries, the book provides a comprehensive and unique insight in the current empirical, practical and theoretical knowledge on the subject. It takes a thorough and critical review of issues associated with slum tourism, asking why slums are visited, whether they should be visited, how they are represented, who is benefiting from it and in what way. It offers new insights to tourism's role in poverty alleviation and urban regeneration, power relations in contact zones and tourism's cultural and political implications.
Drawing on research from four continents and seven different countries, and from multidisciplinary perspectives, this ground-breaking volume will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in this contemporary form of tourism.
Since 2012, there has been a significant growth in tourism in inner city Johannesburg. Some of th... more Since 2012, there has been a significant growth in tourism in inner city Johannesburg. Some of this tourism materialises as walking tours in disadvantaged and relatively poor inner city neighbourhoods, some of which were until recently considered no-go areas. In a paper published in Urban Forum in 2014 (Frenzel 2014), I have analysed this new phenomenon in the context of slum tourism. I define slum tourism as such forms of tourism where poverty and associated signifiers become central themes and (part of the) attraction of the visited destination. Following a broad empirical research project, Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017) have questioned whether the concept slum tourism should be used when discussing tourism in inner city Johannesburg. This paper forms a response to the paper of Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017).
Tourist agency is an area of renewed interest in tourism studies. Reflecting on existing scholars... more Tourist agency is an area of renewed interest in tourism studies. Reflecting on existing scholarship the paper identifies, develops and critically examines three main approaches to tourism agency, namely the Service-dominant logic, the performative turn, and tourist valorisation. Tourist valorisation is proposed as a useful approach to theorise the role of tourists in the making of destinations and more broadly to conceptualise the intentions, modalities and outcomes of tourist agency. The paper contributes to the structuring of current scholarship on tourist agency. Empirically it addresses a knowledge gap concerning the role of tourists in the development of Dharavi, Mumbai into a tourist destination.
This article provides a view on the state-of-the-art literature on slum tourism. It points to the... more This article provides a view on the state-of-the-art literature on slum tourism. It points to the rapid growth of slum tourism research in recent years and highlights the main avenues that research has thus far explored in areas such as slum tourism history, slum tourist subjectivity, resident perspectives, slum tourism operations, economics, and mobilities. With the advent of slum tourism the relationship of poverty and tourism has changed. Tourism is no longer only a means to fight poverty, but poverty is an attraction of tourism. This has consequences for the relationship of slum tourism to other forms of tourism where poverty functions as an attraction, like volunteer or developmental tourism. The article identifies research gaps as well as avenues for further research.
The paper examines the role of slum tourism in poverty relief. To do so, it surveys the state-of-... more The paper examines the role of slum tourism in poverty relief. To do so, it surveys the state-of-the-art literature on tourism and poverty and investigates the ways in which slum tourism research relates to this literature. Slum tou- rism research has addressed the question of how the poor may benefit from this practice; however, these efforts have not systematically considered the general debate on tourism and poverty relief. The survey of slum tourism research also contributes to the conceptual development of the tourism-poverty nexus. The predominant choice of ap- proaches in this field relies on quantitative indicators of poverty relief, but these do not sufficiently account for the multi-dimensional character of poverty. The study of slum tourism research points to the multi-dimensional valorisa- tion of poverty in tourism which is an aspect often overlooked in the state-of-the-art research on tourism and poverty.
Much attention has been paid to township tourism in South Africa, a practice of tourism that emer... more Much attention has been paid to township tourism in South Africa, a practice of tourism that emerged in Apartheid South Africa with different organised tours catering for governmental officials, faith-based groups and anti-apartheid activists. In democratic South Africa, township tourism has developed into a mainstream tourism activity, and operators now offer township tours, township stays and other tourist activities in townships across rural and urban South Africa. Township tourism has also been one central empirical pillar of the relatively new research area of slum tourism, addressing tourism in slums and areas of relative urban poverty across the globe. Based on recent preliminary empirical research in Johannesburg, this paper shows that slum tourism can now also be observed in areas other than townships in South Africa, including perceived ‘no-go areas’ in inner-city Johannesburg. The expansion of slum tourism beyond townships in Johannesburg points to an increasingly complex picture of urban poverty in South Africa. It also allows reflections on the role of slum tourism in poverty alleviation and urban regeneration, responding to and addressing ‘territorial stigma’ and other related symbolic aspects of poverty. Analysing the motivations and perspectives of tour operators of some of these new tours, the paper finds that the new slum tourism in South Africa is pursued in order to serve as an urban development and regeneration tool from below. It responds to an absence of action or perceived failure to respond to poverty by urban policy, and its potential lies in particular in addressing invisibility, overcoming territorial stigma and empowerment of the urban poor.
In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city whic... more In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city which has appropriated the discourse of the creative industries from the bottom up in order to foster its regeneration against capital’s art of rent. We show how Stokes Croft’s self-branding as a cultural quarter has led to struggles over the creative and cultural commons thus produced, which we conceptualise as value struggles where localised value practices clash with capital’s imposition of value. Our case study including two vignettes points both to the productivity of such value struggles in producing new value practices understood as commoning, as well as the limits of reproducing a common life in the face of existing financial and property regimes. Stokes Croft therefore serves as a case in point of the tragedy of the urban commons and points to potential ways of overcoming it.
Protest camps have become a prominent feature of the post-2010 cycle of social movements and whil... more Protest camps have become a prominent feature of the post-2010 cycle of social movements and while they have gripped the public and media's imagination, the phenomenon of protest camping is not new. The practice and performance of creating protest camps has a rich history, which has evolved through multiple movements, from Anti-Apartheid to Anti-war. However, until recently, the history of the protest camp as part of the repertoire of social movements and as a site for the evolution of a social movement's repertoire has largely been confined to the histories of individual movements. Consequently, connections between movements, between camps and the significance of the protest camp itself have been overlooked. In this research profile, we argue for the importance of studying protest camps in relation to social movements and the evolution of repertoires noting how protest camps adapt infrastructures and practices from tent cities, festival cultures, squatting communities and land-based autonomous movements. We also acknowledge protest camps as key sites in which a variety of repertoires of contention are developed, tried and tested, diffused or sometimes dismissed. To facilitate the study protest camps we suggest a theory and practice of ‘infrastructural analysis’ and differentiated between four protest camp infrastructures: (1) media & communication, (2) action, (3) governance and (4) re-creation. We then use the infrastructures of media and communications as a brief example as to how our proposed infrastructural analysis can contribute to the study of repertoires and our understanding of the rich dynamics of a protest camp.
This paper investigates how slums are made into a tourism attraction. We focus in particular on t... more This paper investigates how slums are made into a tourism attraction. We focus in particular on the role of tour guides and tour guiding operations in this process. In tourism literature in general tour guiding has been subject to much reflection and debate. However, tour guides’ role in enabling tourism in new places, in the making of attractions has not been discussed much. Also, in the emerging research on slum tourism little attention has been given to tour guides and their roles. This paper addresses both research gaps in providing insights into tour guiding in slum tourism, and by addressing the roles of tour guides in attraction-making through a comparative analysis of tourism in two slums, Dharavi, in Mumbai, India, and Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya. Based on empirical research of tour guiding operations we found that different levels of formality in tour guiding co-exist across destinations. Formal tour guiding operations are more successful in establishing a slum as an attraction as they enable significant growth in tourist numbers. However, formal tour guiding operations and strong international participation in their foundation are factors that seem to undermine to some extent the creation of intimate and authentic encounters in tour guiding, preferred by some tourists. This leaves space for more informal tour guiding, with strong local ties, which are better placed to produce intimate experiences.
Alternative media form an important part of the global mediascape. Research on this phenomenon is... more Alternative media form an important part of the global mediascape. Research on this phenomenon is, however, often drawn from studies in the `global North'. In this paper we discuss alternative media in the `global South', by exploring two case studies of cooperation between Northern and Southern partners: IFIWatchnet in South America, and Indymedia Centre in Africa.We highlight how Northern and Southern partners differed in identity, organizational forms, and accountability. We find that Northern partners were oriented to more `marginal' identities, fluid organizational structures, and informal structures of accountability. In contrast, Southern activists articulated more 'mainstream' identities, relied on more structured forms, and linked to formalized modes of accountability. The result was often significant clashes over what it meant to be alternative media, how alternative media should be organized, and how people should be held to account. This meant that North - South cooperation was often fraught with struggle. These difficulties are reminiscent of the limitations of creating global cooperation through seeking to spread modes of activist organization developed in the North, which emphasize autonomy, networks, fluidity, and, in some instances, direct action.
In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city whic... more In this paper we explore the case of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, as a neighbourhood in a city which has appropriated the discourse of the creative industries from the bottom up in order to foster
its regeneration against capital’s art of rent. We show how Stokes Croft’s self-branding as a cultural quarter has led to struggles over the creative and cultural commons thus produced, which
we conceptualise as value struggles where localised value practices clash with capital’s imposition of value. Our case study including two vignettes points both to the productivity of such value struggles in producing new value practices understood as commoning, as well as the limits of reproducing a common life in the face of existing financial and property regimes. Stokes Croft therefore serves as a case in point of the tragedy of the urban commons and points to potential ways of overcoming it.
CHAPTER 10 Globalization from below? ICTs and Democratic Development in the Project&a... more CHAPTER 10 Globalization from below? ICTs and Democratic Development in the Project" Indymedia Africa" Fabian Frenzel and Sian Sullivan Indymedia Africa (IMCA) is a global network of media activists that aims to both connect and foster the use of Independent Media in Africa. ...
... insbesonde-re durch radikale Ankündigungen und Tabubrüche oder, wie Cresswell (1991: 165) for... more ... insbesonde-re durch radikale Ankündigungen und Tabubrüche oder, wie Cresswell (1991: 165) formuliert, in einem heretic reading of ... Explizit erfüllten die Camps vier Funktionen: 1) die Ermögli-chung von Aktionen, 2) nachhaltiges, radikal demokratisches Leben in Praxis, 3 ...
The occurrence of organized forms of slum tourism in at least two cities of the global South has ... more The occurrence of organized forms of slum tourism in at least two cities of the global South has been linked to large-scale political events, involving thousands of political travellers. Rio de Janeiro's favela tours are said to have originated in the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (Freie ...
Slum tourism is a young, dynamic and expanding field of research. For a long time, few journal ar... more Slum tourism is a young, dynamic and expanding field of research. For a long time, few journal articles and book chapters were written about this increasingly popular phenomenon. In recent years, however, the number of publications on slum tourism has ...
Over the last two decades, we have witnessed the development of slum tourism in an increasing num... more Over the last two decades, we have witnessed the development of slum tourism in an increasing number of destinations in the Global South. Slum tourism is unmistakably gaining in importance in terms of both economics and the numbers of tourists. It takes place in ...
Slum Tourism: Poverty, Power and Ethics, Jan 1, 2012
Slum tourism is a growing phenomenon in global tourism. It describes organized tours to deprived ... more Slum tourism is a growing phenomenon in global tourism. It describes organized tours to deprived areas. Having a long history (Koven 2004; Steinbrink 2012; Seaton in this volume), contemporary slum tourism in the Global South first occurred in post-apartheid South ...
In: Frenzel, F.; Koens, K. & Steinbrink, M. (eds) (2012): Slum Tourism: Poverty, Power and Ethics. Routeledge, London [u.a.]: 1-18. (mit F. Frenzel und Ko Koens)
Social and political organizing and organization has a spatial dimension, and there is increasing... more Social and political organizing and organization has a spatial dimension, and there is increasing interest in academic studies of organization to understand better how space and organization relate, interact, and conflict. There is a range of studies that look at business and workplace organization, but little evidence from social movement organization or what is sometimes referred to as alternative organization studies. This article addresses this gap by observing and analyzing the effects of spatial organization in social movements. It focuses particularly on protest camps, a form of social movement organization in which spatial organization is particularly important. It looks at the Resurrection City protest camp of 1968 to identify the development of spatial organization practices. They are carried onwards across social movements, as they resolve organizational desires for the social movement organization, such as enabling mass organization without resorting to formal membership...
This chapter concludes the volume by highlighting key themes that have run through the book and t... more This chapter concludes the volume by highlighting key themes that have run through the book and the case studies of diverse contemporary and historical protest camps contained within it. The chapter recognises that protest camps have come into being motivated by a diverse range of political imperatives and that these political motivations, as much as local context, shape the form that specific protest camps take. The conclusion reaffirms the importance of studying the infrastructural arrangements through which protest camps function. It highlights several of the contradictions posed by protest camping – both around the valorisation of territory and the act of camping itself, and the tensions arising out of attention to social reproduction and care within camps. Finally, the conclusion reflects on some of the gaps in existing research highlighted by the book, and outlines priority areas for future protest camps research.
This chapter discusses the case of the Free Curvy Occupation in Berlin-Kreuzberg. A protest camp ... more This chapter discusses the case of the Free Curvy Occupation in Berlin-Kreuzberg. A protest camp against gentrification, the Free Cuvry Occupation also became a shelter for some of Berlin’s poorest inhabitants, who found shelter and relative security on the squatted vacant lot. The chapter considers the dual character of Free Cuvry as a protest camp and a homeless tent city against the backdrop of ongoing discussions over the ability of protest camps to provide care and support for destitute urban dwellers. The Free Cuvry case shows that protesting against gentrification while also providing shelter for homeless people is a unique and potentially powerful tactic of urban social movements. The case however also shows the limits and the difficulties of reconciling both characteristics. Highlighting the need for forming pragmatic coalitions and responding to political opportunities, the chapter provides some reflection regarding the viability of this tactic.
Despite protest camps’ increasing role as an organisational form of protest, little scholarship h... more Despite protest camps’ increasing role as an organisational form of protest, little scholarship has considered protest camps as their own domain of enquiry. What protest camp scholarship that does exist has largely been sporadic and often views camps as either merely functional to the specific movements in which they were created, or sees them as ephemeral spaces that leave little legacy. In either case, the protest camp is regarded as just one site amongst many in the context of studying a specific social movement often grouped together with other social movement strategies such as street parties, demonstrations, assemblies and direct actions. In this introduction, the authors point to the importance to detail the unique spaces of protest camps, their sustaining infrastructures and the similarities and differences between protest camps across movements and locations. The authors also consider the lack of theory which conceptually develops the importance of the protest camp as a dis...
In this section introduction the authors consider the different elements that are brought togethe... more In this section introduction the authors consider the different elements that are brought together to create the material and social infrastructures of camps. Taking seriously the material and social infrastructures of camps, they examine the spatial division of labour within protest camps. They also introduce how the architecture of the public squares and gardens that are occupied by protesters can shape the ways in which politics is practised within them. Protest camps are seldom spontaneous, and it is necessary to understand better the processes by which camps are planned, and the ways in which political practices travel between camps over time. This includes the important role of media and communication infrastructure. The authors highlight the need to examine the relationship between the physical space of occupation and the mediated or virtual space. Of interest are the media practices used to maintain and amplify spaces of protest, with particular attention given to the role o...
The title of the final section is ‘Reproducing and Re-creating’. Considering camps as home places... more The title of the final section is ‘Reproducing and Re-creating’. Considering camps as home places - places where people feed, care for and house each other, means to see them as sites where social reproduction takes place. This raises a number of questions, for example concerning the balance between social reproduction and more confrontational forms of political contestations (as well as the highly contested expectations about who should participate in each of these functions). Because they can become a temporary home for many people, questions of physical, psychological, and symbolic safety (especially for women and minority groups) have frequently been the cause of tension within camps. How do campers struggle to realize some of their political hopes within the space of the camp - not just their ‘big’ hopes for a more just, equal and sustainable society; but their hopes for a transformation of everyday social relations between people?
The book’s second section - ‘Occupying and Colonizing’ - addresses a different set of spatial pol... more The book’s second section - ‘Occupying and Colonizing’ - addresses a different set of spatial politics posed by protest camps. The authors are concerned here with the politics of occupying (public) space for protest and the tensions that can arise from this. Urban protest camps, in particular, frequently seek to occupy public space in order to draw attention to the policies of political and economic elites. The authors question how certain ‘publics’ are brought into being by protest camps, whilst the existence of others might be elided or erased. This section addresses the constitutive power of protest camps as a political and communicative space. Here, the spatial character of a protest camp as its own sphere of life and communication creates a disposition between the two, something that leads to various relationships from clear cut antagonism between ‘the camp’ and ‘the outside’ to more heterotopic overlaps, as well as more blurred boundaries in communication and action.
Based on a detailed ethnography, this book explores the promises and expectations of tourism in C... more Based on a detailed ethnography, this book explores the promises and expectations of tourism in Cuba, drawing attention to the challenges that tourists and local people face in establishing meaningful connections with each other. Notions of informal encounter and relational idiom illuminate ambiguous experiences of tourism harassment, economic transactions, hospitality, friendship, and festive and sexual relationships. Comparing these various connections, the author shows the potential of touristic encounters to redefine their moral foundations, power dynamics, and implications, offering new insights into how contemporary relationships across difference and inequality are imagined and understood.
The occurrence of organized forms of slum tourism in at least two cities of the global South has ... more The occurrence of organized forms of slum tourism in at least two cities of the global South has been linked to large-scale political events, involving thousands of political travellers. Rio de Janeiro's favela tours are said to have originated in the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (Freie ...
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Based on two years of research in Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, in various cities in South Africa, Kenya and India, the book develops a comprehensive account of tourist valorisation in slum tourism in the global south. Slum tourism is not a new phenomenon and has been discussed to some extent both in historical and contemporary perspective. The book, building on existing research, points to aspects and effects of slum tourism that have so far been overlooked:
1) It extents existing scholarship on tourism’s role in urban regeneration and gentrification and it sheds light on these processes in cities in the developing world and in slums.
2) It looks at tourism’s role in local politics, in lifting the stigma of slums, in helping to overcome slum’s isolation and in improving security. It shows how slum residents sometimes struggle with (and sometimes against) tourists for their right to the city.
3) It shows how tourism has become part of urban policy schemes that attempt to harness its potential role in upgrading and improving slums.
4) It points to the emergence of new forms of international development, where slum tourism is part of new ‘experience-based’ and ‘peer to peer’ approaches to funding and organisation.
Reviews:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/08/12/book-review-slumming-it-the-tourist-valorisation-of-urban-poverty-by-fabian-frenzel/
http://www.environmentandurbanization.org/slumming-it-tourist-valorization-urban-poverty
While the morally controversial practice of slum tourism has raised much attention and opinionated debates in the media for several years, academic research has only recently started addressing it as a global phenomenon. This edition provides the first systematic overview of the field and the diverse issues connected to slum tourism. This multidisciplinary collection is unique both in its conceptual and empirical breadth. Its chapters indicate that ‘global slumming’ is not merely a controversial and challenging topic in itself, but also offers an apt lens through which to discuss core concepts in critical tourism studies in a global perspective, in particular: ‘poverty’, ‘power’ and ‘ethics’.
Building on research by prolific researchers from ten different countries, the book provides a comprehensive and unique insight in the current empirical, practical and theoretical knowledge on the subject. It takes a thorough and critical review of issues associated with slum tourism, asking why slums are visited, whether they should be visited, how they are represented, who is benefiting from it and in what way. It offers new insights to tourism's role in poverty alleviation and urban regeneration, power relations in contact zones and tourism's cultural and political implications.
Drawing on research from four continents and seven different countries, and from multidisciplinary perspectives, this ground-breaking volume will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in this contemporary form of tourism.
its regeneration against capital’s art of rent. We show how Stokes Croft’s self-branding as a cultural quarter has led to struggles over the creative and cultural commons thus produced, which
we conceptualise as value struggles where localised value practices clash with capital’s imposition of value. Our case study including two vignettes points both to the productivity of such value struggles in producing new value practices understood as commoning, as well as the limits of reproducing a common life in the face of existing financial and property regimes. Stokes Croft therefore serves as a case in point of the tragedy of the urban commons and points to potential ways of overcoming it.
Based on two years of research in Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, in various cities in South Africa, Kenya and India, the book develops a comprehensive account of tourist valorisation in slum tourism in the global south. Slum tourism is not a new phenomenon and has been discussed to some extent both in historical and contemporary perspective. The book, building on existing research, points to aspects and effects of slum tourism that have so far been overlooked:
1) It extents existing scholarship on tourism’s role in urban regeneration and gentrification and it sheds light on these processes in cities in the developing world and in slums.
2) It looks at tourism’s role in local politics, in lifting the stigma of slums, in helping to overcome slum’s isolation and in improving security. It shows how slum residents sometimes struggle with (and sometimes against) tourists for their right to the city.
3) It shows how tourism has become part of urban policy schemes that attempt to harness its potential role in upgrading and improving slums.
4) It points to the emergence of new forms of international development, where slum tourism is part of new ‘experience-based’ and ‘peer to peer’ approaches to funding and organisation.
Reviews:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/08/12/book-review-slumming-it-the-tourist-valorisation-of-urban-poverty-by-fabian-frenzel/
http://www.environmentandurbanization.org/slumming-it-tourist-valorization-urban-poverty
While the morally controversial practice of slum tourism has raised much attention and opinionated debates in the media for several years, academic research has only recently started addressing it as a global phenomenon. This edition provides the first systematic overview of the field and the diverse issues connected to slum tourism. This multidisciplinary collection is unique both in its conceptual and empirical breadth. Its chapters indicate that ‘global slumming’ is not merely a controversial and challenging topic in itself, but also offers an apt lens through which to discuss core concepts in critical tourism studies in a global perspective, in particular: ‘poverty’, ‘power’ and ‘ethics’.
Building on research by prolific researchers from ten different countries, the book provides a comprehensive and unique insight in the current empirical, practical and theoretical knowledge on the subject. It takes a thorough and critical review of issues associated with slum tourism, asking why slums are visited, whether they should be visited, how they are represented, who is benefiting from it and in what way. It offers new insights to tourism's role in poverty alleviation and urban regeneration, power relations in contact zones and tourism's cultural and political implications.
Drawing on research from four continents and seven different countries, and from multidisciplinary perspectives, this ground-breaking volume will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in this contemporary form of tourism.
its regeneration against capital’s art of rent. We show how Stokes Croft’s self-branding as a cultural quarter has led to struggles over the creative and cultural commons thus produced, which
we conceptualise as value struggles where localised value practices clash with capital’s imposition of value. Our case study including two vignettes points both to the productivity of such value struggles in producing new value practices understood as commoning, as well as the limits of reproducing a common life in the face of existing financial and property regimes. Stokes Croft therefore serves as a case in point of the tragedy of the urban commons and points to potential ways of overcoming it.