Slumming on Social Media? E-Mediated Tourist Gaze and Social Representations of Indian, South African, and Brazilian Slum Tourism Destinations

Abstract

Slum tourism is a hotly debated genre of travel. While it may foster intercultural encounters with marginalised “others”, it is also accused of reinforcing stereotypes and exploitation. Both aspects are amplified by the communication through social media of the slum tourism experience, that contribute to challenge or confirm stigmatizing representations of slums and their inhabitants. Based on the theoretical constructs of the tourist gaze and of social representations, this article addresses this particular type of digital contact. A lexicometric approach was used to analyse an extensive corpus of reviews on TripAdvisor (N = 8126). The findings not only confirm common themes already identified by the literature: the eye-opening component of touring poverty and the gatekeeping function of guides; but also show the emergence of context-dependent specificities, such as a hedonistic feature in the Cape Town region; or the integration of favelas within the representations of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, the results show the tension between the “othering” and the “sameing” mechanisms, making this tourism practice a space in which shallow and deep tourist gazes interact and co-exist, and are crucially mediated by the gatekeeper of the tours: the guide.

Residents and Stakeholder Opinions on Township Tourism in Langa, Cape Town, South Africa

“…A total of 53 in-depth interviews were conducted. Geographically, Langa comprises six distinct hous-ing typologies (number of in-depth interviews in brackets): flats (18), hostels (7), informal settlement (5), middle-income (7), high-income (7) and the historic area of the township (9). All interviews were transcribed, and when conducted in another language, they were translated.…”

“…The term is still used in official censuses, policy and legislation today. Township tourism (also known as "ghetto, slum, atrocity, ethno, justice or thano" tourism) began in London in the nineteenth century as a way for the wealthy to experience life in impoverished areas [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. There is a growing body of research on township and slum tourism in the global south [10,11].…”

The Mediating Role of Social Media Use and Perceived Value between Tourist Knowledge and Tourist Attitudes: A Study on the Digital Native Generation

“…They can contribute to changing tourists' perceptions. This research uses social media as a mediator in social representation and contributes to the digital and intercultural processes involved in slum tourism (Sarrica et al, 2021). Therefore, the sixth hypothesis of this research is as follows: H6: Social media use positively mediates the effect of tourist knowledge and tourist attitudes…”

Attitudes towards Slum Tourism in Mumbai, India: Analysis of Positive and Negative Impacts

“…Among the several types of tourism, slum tourism, also known as poverty tourism, township tourism, slumming, poorism, or philanthropic tourism [7] is a controversial and fast-growing type of tourism, in which tourists spend some time, from a couple of hours to a few days, visiting, touring, and experiencing the way of living of locals in shantytowns [8]. It is a growing phenomenon in several developing [9], but has been observed even in the United States, such as in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina [10] and on the homeless tours in Europe [11].…”