Colonial Legacies and Independent Travel to India: Unpacking the Transnational Construction of Innocence
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University of Alberta Colonial Legacies and Independent Travel to India: Unpacking the transnational construction of innocence by Kristin Elizabeth Lozanski A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology Edmonton, Alberta Fall 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46367-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46367-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract Independent travel, a less rigorous form of backpacking, is defined through its difference from mass tourism. Opposing the commodification and cultural insensitivity that many independent travelers associate with more mainstream forms of tourism, independent travel is articulated through ideals of non-commodification, social responsibility, and meaningful cultural interaction. Thus, many independent travelers understand their travel practices as benign, if not benevolent. In carving out a socially just alternative practice of tourism, independent travelers are dependent upon tenets of liberalism, including individualism. This individualism is critical to the practice of independent travel because it enables individual travelers to understand themselves as distinct from the broader economic, political and social inequalities that frame their travel. I call this dissociation the social construction of innocence. My analysis is based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork in India. The participant observation and interviews I conducted with independent travelers yielded noteworthy themes related to the social construction of innocence. After reflecting upon the significance of transience for conducting ethnographic research, I explore the articulations between independent travel, self-development, liberalism, and neo colonialism. I then consider travelers' representations of India and Indians, with specific attention to the colonial lenses through which these narratives are constructed. These constructions are not only racialized, but are also highly gendered. Taking up the sexual harassment of white women travelers, I deconstruct sexualized narratives of Indian men as a threat and women travelers as vulnerable with specific attention to the ways in which these discourses are complicit in racialized patriarchy. Finally, I consider those moments in which the innocence' of independent travel and independent travelers is disrupted by travelers' reflections on their encounters with beggars and the poverty they observe in India. My analyses signal the deep entanglement of independent travel with colonial legacies - precisely the association that independent travel, as an institutionalized alternative form of travel, seeks to avoid. Given this contradiction, it is only through the social construction of innocence - the detachment of individual travelers from the broader contexts within which they travel - that independent travel can sustain itself as an alternative form of travel. Acknowledgements Thank you to... Sara, Denise, and Rob for all of your feedback and support over the past three years Sara, in particular, for pushing me on issues on which I wasn't comfortable being pushed and for arranging off-campus meetings, which made them almost seem like they weren't work The Department of Sociology at U of A for funding my dissertation research Shane for our almost daily conversations, for listening to endless brainstorms and for offering and hosting social events when necessary (no Creamsicles!) Irene for your honesty, your humour, and the food and chai you generously share Tim for supporting my decision to take my time, encouraging me to take breaks when I needed them, fixing the technological glitches, and reading and editing everything and then some Goze for being my squash partner and giving me a chance to work out some frustration, and even letting me win now and again Dale for our work dates and tasty lunches Lisa for putting up with and contributing to my research and analysis for 3 months, and then 3 more years! Jason for reminding me that it would end, providing proof of that, introducing me to online Scrabble, and offering to share the final sentence of his dissertation Griffin & Sabine for providing me with affection and distraction when I needed it, and taking me out for walks Everyone who has listened patiently while I talk through my project (more to explain it to myself than to them), who has suggested references and alternative perspectives, and who has given me the opportunity to turn my computer off every now and again Finally... thank you to all the trees that gave their lives that I, and others, might review multiple hard copies... Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION 1 CONTACT ZONES 4 A MODERN PROJECT 6 THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF INNOCENCE 11 THE MAKING OF INDEPENDENT TRAVELERS 14 AUTHENTICITY IN TOURISM 18 TRAVELLING THE THIRD WORLD 24 (NEO-)COLONIAUSM AND TRAVEL TO INDIA 27 'UNRULY'OTHERS 31 INNOCENCE IN GLOBAL TRAVEL 34 METHODS 37 CHAPTER SKETCHES 39 CONCLUDING REMARKS 40 II. ETHNOGRAPHY OF TRANSIENCE 43 OVERVIEW OF METHODS 45 ETHNOGRAPHIC NEGOTIATIONS 46 THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF INDEPENDENT TRAVEL AND LOGISTICS OF RESEARCH 54 THE LIMITATIONS OF TRANSIENCE 72 CENTERING THE RESEARCHER 75 CONCLUDING REMARKS 81 III. INDEPENDENT TRAVEL: COLONIALISM, LIBERALISM, AND THE SELF 83 A NEO-COLONIAL MILIEU 84 TRAVEL AND COLONIALISM 85 STRUCTURAL PRIVILEGE AND MOBILITIES OF TRAVEL 90 THE MAKING OF INDEPENDENT TRAVELERS 92 CONTRADICTIONS OF INDEPENDENT TRAVEL 98 HARDSHIP AND STRUCTURAL PRIVILEGE 101 NARRATING INDEPENDENT TRAVEL AND CONSTRUCTING THE SELF 103 CONCLUDING REMARKS 108 IV. DEFINING "REAL INDIA": REPRESENTATIONS OF AUTHENTICITY IN INDEPENDENT TRAVEL 113 THE SELF OF BUDGET TRAVEL 116 AUTHENTIC INDIA? 117 AUTHENTICITY THROUGH INTIMACY 121 NON-COMMODIFICATION AS A SIGNIFIER OF INTIMACY 124 SPATIAL CONTRADICTIONS 127 AUTHENTICITY AND METASPACES 130 REAL INDIANS? 132 AUTHENTICITY AND LIBERALISM 140 CONCLUDING REMARKS 142 V. SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE, RACIALIZED HETERONORMATIVITY AND PATRIARCHAL COLONIALISM 145 'EQUAL'WESTERN WOMEN 147 'UNRULY'INDIAN MEN 156 Two TALES OF RETALIATORY VIOLENCE 160 REPRODUCING RACIALIZED PATRIARCHY 162 REPRODUCING RACIALIZED PATRIARCHY WITHOUT VIOLENCE 165 CONCLUDING REMARKS 167 VI. GAZE, GIFT AND GUILT: CONFRONTATIONS WITH POVERTY IN INDEPENDENT TRAVEL 171 THE GAZE OF GHOSTS 173 GIVING UNDER THE GAZE 175 STICKY GIVING 177 REGULATED GIVING 181 INDIVIDUAL NEGOTIATIONS OF GIVING 184 GIFT AND GUILT 189 EXPLAINING POVERTY 190 ATTEMPTING CHANGE 193 CONCLUDING REMARKS 196 VII. RETHINKING IDENTIFICATION, INEQUITY AND INNOCENCE: CONCLUDING REMARKS 201 HEGEMONIC INDEPENDENT TRAVEL 204 ROAD STATUS vs. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 206 DECOLONIZING METHODOLOGIES 208 VIII. LITERATURE CITED 215 IX. APPENDICES 225 APPENDIX 1 - INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 225 APPENDIX 2-PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES 229 I. Introduction This is a project about individual travelers from Western countries, their decisions to go to India, the narratives of their best and worst experiences in India, their reflections on self-development, and their interactions with local Indians. This is also a project about globalization, neo-colonialism and liberalism. The challenge I have undertaken is to put individuals' constructions of their travel practices (and themselves) into the context of the global capitalist economy and the neo-colonial legacies that haunt their independent travel - an ostensibly benign or beneficial alternative to mainstream tourism. Neo-colonialist discourses of cultural Otherness have an historical and geographical reach that extends beyond the intentions and practices of individual travelers to India. My analysis is not an effort to challenge or critique the