Browsing by Author "Scheyvens RA"

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    Decolonising tourism and development: from orphanage tourism to community empowerment in Cambodia
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2022-02-20) Higgins-Desbiolles F; Scheyvens RA; Bhatia B
    Tourism has been viewed as a development pathway, with alternative tourisms such as volunteer tourism perceived as promising. However, critics have highlighted how white saviourism and Western ideologies of superiority may underpin both development agendas and activities like volunteer tourism. The COVID crisis has impacted both tourism and international development and calls for rethinking. This case study is situated at the intersections of tourism, development and humanitarianism. It charts the evolution of the Cambodian Children’s Trust which emerged in 2007 from the co-founding of an orphanage by an Australian volunteer tourist and a local Khmer leader. Through a process of conscientisation, the orphanage has given way to a community development approach under the leadership of a 100 percent Khmer team in country, leaving footprints of empowering spaces rather than dependency structures. This article addresses the research question of how might we transform the paternalistic desire to “do good” found in both voluntourism and development into a practice of mutual solidarity? Illuminating issues of power and inequality in Western-led models, this article offers a framework for more just partnerships based on Freirian praxis: dialogue building critical consciousness, co-development of transformative praxis, capacity sharing and trust in the capabilities of the people.
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    Exporting stimulus and ‘shared prosperity’: Re-inventing foreign aid for a retroliberal era
    (Wiley, 2017) Mawdsley E; Murray W; Overton J; Scheyvens RA; Banks GA
    The global aid world has changed, partly in response to both the re-configurations of geopolitical power and to the global financial crisis (GFC). Paradoxically, in the face of recession in most Northern economies, collectively foreign aid contributions have not fallen. However there has been a qualitative shift in its narrative and nature. This new regime – which we term retroliberalism – projects the concept of ‘shared prosperity’ but constitutes a return to explicit self-interest designed to bolster private sector trade and investment. Drawing evidence from New Zealand the United Kingdom, we argue that aid programmes are increasingly functioning as ‘exported stimulus’ packages.
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    Pacific peoples and the pandemic: exploring multiple well-beings of people in tourism-dependent communities
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-01-01) Scheyvens RA; Movono A; Auckram S
    This article aims to examine how the border closures due to Covid-19 have impacted the well-being of Pacific peoples. Many women, men and children living on islands around the South Pacific live in households that depend on tourism income to provide for the majority of their cash needs, thus the pandemic has delivered a devastating financial blow to them. Nevertheless, an online survey combined with interviews in five Pacific countries shows that many people have drawn on their traditional skills combined with cultural systems, social capital and access to customary land to ensure that their well-being is maintained despite major decreases in household income. Others, however, have been more vulnerable, struggling with reductions in their mental health and increases in household conflict, for example. As well as this, the research data reveals that there needs to be a consideration of the spiritual aspect of well-being as something that is of deep importance for Pacific peoples and can provide them with great comfort and support during times of shocks. We will elucidate what can be learned from this in terms of planning for more just, sustainable tourism.