Being a Tourist While Researching Tourists: A Reflexive Approach to Complex Emotions in Tourism Fieldwork
Being a Tourist While Researching Tourists: A Reflexive Approach to Complex Emotions in Tourism Fieldwork
Monday, 7 July 2025: 02:15
Location: SJES011 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Oral Presentation
This paper explores the emotional and sensory dimensions of conducting ethnographic research on tourism in Scampia, a stigmatized and marginalized neighborhood of Naples (Southern Italy). Through an autoethnographic lens, I examine how my dual role as both a researcher and a tourist influenced my emotional engagement with the field and shaped the process of data interpretation.
While conducting ethnography on guided tours in this stigmatized area, I grappled with feelings of intrusion, navigating between self-judgment and judgment toward other 'poverty tourists.' Instead of distancing myself from these emotions, I sought to embrace and analyze them. By adopting a reflexive approach to tourism studies (Harrison, 2003; Leite, Castañeda, & Adams, 2019), I recognized that, in many ways, the researcher’s role mirrored that of the tourist, especially in the early stages of fieldwork. Reviewing my field diary, I found myself experiencing emotions typical of tourists—curiosity, discomfort, and excitement—while balancing my identity as a researcher. Additionally, repeated participation in guided tours allowed me to appreciate the positive emotions—conviviality, joy, and happiness—that accompany the tourist experience. I found myself interacting with tourists during moments of leisure and being included in their group activities, blurring the line between observer and participant. This reflexive approach helped me acknowledge that I, too, am a tourist in other contexts, prompting me to critically reflect on my own emotions and experiences while navigating the contradictions of researching tourism and simultaneously gaining a better understanding of the phenomenon.
While conducting ethnography on guided tours in this stigmatized area, I grappled with feelings of intrusion, navigating between self-judgment and judgment toward other 'poverty tourists.' Instead of distancing myself from these emotions, I sought to embrace and analyze them. By adopting a reflexive approach to tourism studies (Harrison, 2003; Leite, Castañeda, & Adams, 2019), I recognized that, in many ways, the researcher’s role mirrored that of the tourist, especially in the early stages of fieldwork. Reviewing my field diary, I found myself experiencing emotions typical of tourists—curiosity, discomfort, and excitement—while balancing my identity as a researcher. Additionally, repeated participation in guided tours allowed me to appreciate the positive emotions—conviviality, joy, and happiness—that accompany the tourist experience. I found myself interacting with tourists during moments of leisure and being included in their group activities, blurring the line between observer and participant. This reflexive approach helped me acknowledge that I, too, am a tourist in other contexts, prompting me to critically reflect on my own emotions and experiences while navigating the contradictions of researching tourism and simultaneously gaining a better understanding of the phenomenon.
References
Harrison, J. (2003). Being a Tourist: Finding Meaning in Pleasure Travel. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Leite, N. M., Castañeda, Q. E., & Adams, K. M. (2019). The Ethnography of Tourism. Encounter, Experience, Emergent Culture. In N. M. Leite, Q. E. Castañeda, & K. M. Adams, (eds.) The Ethnography of Tourism. Edward Bruner and Beyond (p. 1-46). London: Lexington Books.