Hitchhiking Travel in China: Power, Gender and Sexuality
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Hitchhiking Travel in China: Power, Gender and Sexuality by Xiongbin Gao Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences School of Hospitality and Tourism Management Supervisors: Professor Scott Cohen Dr Paul Hanna ©Xiongbin Gao, June 2019 1 Declaration of Originality This thesis and the work to which it refers are the results of my own efforts. Any ideas, data, images or text resulting from the worK of others (whether published or unpublished) are fully identified as such within the worK and attributed to their originator in the text, bibliography or in footnotes. This thesis has not been submitted in whole or in part for any other academic degree or professional qualification. I agree that the University has the right to submit my work to the plagiarism detection service TurnitinUK for originality checKs. Whether or not drafts have been so-assessed, the University reserves the right to require an electronic version of the final document (as submitted) for assessment as above. 2 Abstract Hitchhiking travel has received little interest from tourism researchers despite its association with bacKpacKer travel and its (re)emergence as a tourism practice in recent years, especially in China. Literature suggests that gender is an important aspect of hitchhiKing. The female hitchhiKers, liKe other female travellers and tourists, are both constrained by and resistant to gender norms. However, this has seldom been examined in a critical approach. Building on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and her conception of vulnerability, this research seeKs to provide a critical account of how hitchhiKing travel in contemporary China is articulated and experienced in gendered and sexualised ways. Butler offers a critical account of ‘agency’ and a queer intervention in gender studies, which are valuable in addressing the agency-as-free-actions formulation and the heterosexual presumption seen in the understanding of gender in hitchhiKing or tourism in general. Empirical data were collected through participant observation and interviews during an (auto)ethnographic field study undertaKen on the South Sichuan – Tibet Route in China and analysed through writing as a method of inquiry – a ‘queer’ analytic method that allows the ‘crossing’ of thematic analysis, Foucauldian discourse analysis and self- narratives. The findings suggest that the ‘truth’ of hitchhiking and being a hitchhiker is produced through storytelling as a form of discursive power. Such discursive power set up the subjectivities in which the female and the male hitchhiKers understand themselves as vulnerable and invulnerable respectively. The (in)vulnerability, far from being the essential features of the gendered hitchhiKing subjects, is differentially distributed to the female and male hitchhiKers as the consequence of certain power regimes, particularly normative heterosexuality and the principle of reciprocity. These power regimes also operate to marginalise non-heteronormative, or specifically homosexual subjects in hitchhiking travel. This research as a whole demonstrates an alternative approach to understating gender in tourism that may invoKe valuable debates in tourism gender scholarship. 3 Acknowledgements Special thanKs are dedicated to my informants, especially those gave their time to be interviewed. Without their generosity this research simply cannot exist as it is. I also thank the hitchhikers and lift-givers that I met during my fieldworK for maKing the field experiences interesting and for maKing the world an interesting place to live in. I also would liKe to express my gratitude to the supervision I received from Professor Scott Cohen and Dr. Paul Hanna, who have more faith in my research than I do. I am also very grateful to many people in School of Hospitality and Tourism Management for having supported me in various ways throughout the PhD journey, in particular, I am indebted to Air, Carol, Fina, Houda, Tassya and Wenjie, who listened to many of my problems and tried to help wherever and whenever they could – although time and distance somehow may have Kept us apart. I would also liKe to thank my friends, too numerous to mention, for making life so enjoyable. I am especially grateful to Claire, László and Michele, who have cheered me up in some difficult days. I also thanK Tony for his patience, support and love. Last but not least, I thanK my family for their unreserved support throughout my life. In particular, I would liKe to express my gratitude and love to my parents, who, in the best way they can, have always been trying to maKe my life easier and happier. 4 Table of Contents Declaration of Originality ..........................................................................................2 Abstract .....................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................4 Table of Contents ......................................................................................................5 List of Figures.............................................................................................................8 List of Tables ..............................................................................................................9 Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................10 1.1 BacKground and Rationale of the Research: AsKing for Trouble ......................10 1.2 Research Aims ................................................................................................15 1.3 The Structure of the Thesis .............................................................................15 Chapter 2 Hitchhiking ..............................................................................................21 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................21 2.2 HitchhiKing Travel in China: An Emerging Phenomenon? ................................21 2.3 A Brief History of HitchhiKing in the Western Societies ...................................24 2.4 HitchhiKing/Lift-giving: Sociality and Reciprocity .............................................29 2.5 Gender in HitchhiKing .....................................................................................35 2.6 Summary ........................................................................................................42 Chapter 3 Power, Gender and Sexuality ..................................................................44 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................44 3.2 Gender and Tourism .......................................................................................44 3.3 Gender, Feminism and Queer Theory .............................................................55 3.4 Theorising with Butler: Gender, Sex and Sexuality ..........................................67 3.5 Theorising with Butler: Vulnerability ...............................................................78 3.6 Summary ........................................................................................................87 5 Chapter 4 Gender and Sexuality in China ................................................................89 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................89 4.2 The Development of Gender and Sexuality Studies in/of China ......................89 4.3 Gender in China ..............................................................................................94 4.4 Sexuality in China ......................................................................................... 104 4.5 Summary ...................................................................................................... 115 Chapter 5 Methodology......................................................................................... 117 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 117 5.2 Research Philosophy: Influences from Feminism and Queer Theory ............. 117 5.3 Ethnography ................................................................................................. 119 5.3.1 Multi-sited Ethnography ........................................................................ 120 5.3.2 Autoethnography................................................................................... 123 5.4 The FieldworK ............................................................................................... 127 5.4.1 The ‘Sites’ .............................................................................................. 127 5.4.2 Data Collection: Participant Observation and Interviews ....................... 134 5.5 Interpreting the Data: Writing as a Method of Inquiry .................................. 147 5.6 Quality of the Research ................................................................................ 154 5.7 Research Ethics............................................................................................. 155 5.8 A Reflexive Note ........................................................................................... 158 5.9 Summary .....................................................................................................