Photographing Locals: An Exploration of The Effects of Tourist Photography on Host Communities

By:

Using the case study of Peru, this paper explores the effects of tourist photography on the socio-cultural frameworks of host communities. For many decades authors (see for example Sontag, 1976, Baederholt, 2006, Chalfern, 1989, Crang, 1999) have recognized the fundamental role of photography within tourism. However, despite references to the photograph as a tool for consuming and constructing in the tourist experience, little attention has been afforded to the effects of such practice (see Cohen et al, 1992). This paper unpacks the complexities of the seemingly fleeting relationships between tourists and local residents that emerge during photographic encounters as local residents can become photographed subjects and objects of the tourist gaze. In seeking to bridge the perceptions and experiences of both tourists and local residents, the paper is composed of two parts. First, it explores not only the key driving factors underpinning tourists’ desire to photograph local residents and the complexities of ethical considerations that emerge during photographic encounters, but situates such practice alongside tourists’ understanding of the downstream effects of their photographic demands. Secondly, the local resident perspective is explored as the paper considers the opportunities of (dis)empowerment and (in)dependency that can emerge through tourists’ photography and questions the role of such practice in sustaining spaces of exclusion and potentially reinforcing unsustainable social practices in local communities. Thus, it unpacks potential spaces of contestation and/or engagement that emerge between tourists and local residents during the immediacy of the photographic encounter.

Stream: Cultural Sustainability

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Caroline studied for her first degree at the University of Aberdeen before completing an MSc at the University of Bristol (2000). She then worked as a research officer at The Centre of Research into Quality, Birmingham before studying for a PhD at the University of Bristol (graduated 2006). She currently holds the position of Lecturer in Tourism at the School of Management, University of Surrey. Her research interests lie in the areas of visuals in tourism; sustainable tourism and ethical tourism. Her research has to date focused on issues such as the renegotiation of the visual in the tourist experience and she has recently completed a project that explores public understanding of sustainable tourism and leisure (funded by UK Government Department of Food and Rural Affairs). Caroline is also a member of several professional organisations including: The Tourism Society and the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers.