Backpacker enclaves research: achievements, critique and alternative approaches

“I Post, therefore I Become #cosmopolitan”: The materiality of online representations of study abroad in China

“…Perhaps more importantly, what is paradoxical is that while transnational students’ motivations to study in China are supposedly about encountering difference and immersing in the local their experiences are nevertheless carried out in the company of similar others and the extended familiarity of home. On this note, within the tourism literature, a number of scholars highlighted the notion of enclaves, the social and information support structure established when (predominantly Western‐situated) travellers are situated in a group setting with similar others (see Cohen, ; Schwarz, ). These studies point out that enclaves are facilitated by a “homogenous background…common knowledge, [and] common interests and forms of communication” (Binder, , p.98‐99), and provide young travellers “a sense of togetherness or communality” (Cohen, , p.108) and “a cultural home away from home” (Westerhausen, , p.69).…”

“…On this note, within the tourism literature, a number of scholars highlighted the notion of enclaves, the social and information support structure established when (predominantly Western‐situated) travellers are situated in a group setting with similar others (see Cohen, ; Schwarz, ). These studies point out that enclaves are facilitated by a “homogenous background…common knowledge, [and] common interests and forms of communication” (Binder, , p.98‐99), and provide young travellers “a sense of togetherness or communality” (Cohen, , p.108) and “a cultural home away from home” (Westerhausen, , p.69). Furthermore, Wilson and Richards () critically examine the dual role of such enclaves: they not only “create the gap between ideology and practice in travel… but also reconciled for (and by) the participants of the scene” (p.188).…”

Backpacking’s future and its drifter past

“…This is despite a market and managerial focus driven by lifestyle entrepreneurs, governments, consultants and academics that flatten backpacking's meaning and depth, strip it of its original countercultural symbols, and rewrite it within educational and touristic discourses. While it makes backpacking legible in a modern society, which is a prerequisite for governance and governance systems, it also seeks to blunt any meaning beyond that of mainstream disposable play (Cohen, 2018). While Cohen failed to address how interaction amongst drifters who shared the same cultural representation continually reproduced drifter tourism, backpacking's encounters of conflict and collaboration between inexperienced and experienced (recognised by those who enter backpacking as competent, credible and relevant) backpackers continually reproduce, rejuvenate and even transform backpacking through new myths, gossip, stories, routes and understandings.…”

Encountering begpackers

“…Backpackers typically stay at youth hostels and budget accommodation. They tend to form enclaves or assemblages congregating at popular accommodations and establishments servicing backpacker markets (Cohen, 2018). Their typical travel motivation is experience seeking (Richards & Wilson, 2004).…”

“…Backpackers are often perceived as a low-impact travellers interested in environmental education, local consumption, interaction with local residents and experiencing local culture (Nok, Suntikul, Agyeiwaah, & Tolkach, 2017). Moreover, digital technologies play an increasingly important role in how backpackers travel (Cohen, 2018;Richards, 2015). Due to an expansion of literature on backpacking, incongruences in the criteria used to define backpackers have emerged.…”