Navigating Local Justice in the Digital Age: Collaborative Representations in Tourism

The introduction of digital has fundamentally altered the tourism industry, disrupting traditional structures of connection and delivery of travel experiences. This shift has introduced new stakeholders, such as host communities, who are now actively ‘creating and co-creating’ travel experiences (Sugathan & Ranjan 2019) through platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs. These media-driven practices foster a new representation of the 'local'—encompassing the social, cultural, and environmental dimensions of places—positioned not only as a pathway to offbeat travel but also as a more authentic and sustainable alternative to the commodified experiences offered by the commercial tourism industry.

Amidst the Anthropocene, where human impact on ecosystems is undeniable, and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to prioritize inclusivity and local connections has become more pressing. This reflects broader calls for epistemic and environmental justice (Higgins-Desbiolles 2021) within tourism, as local communities are foregrounded as knowledge holders and agents of sustainable futures (Tomassini & Cavagnaro 2020).

In this context, this paper examines how the collaborative practices of communities, both within and with their local ecologies, are not merely aesthetic but create cultural values and sensibilities that challenge dominant tourism narratives. Through these representations, local communities enact ‘the art of living,’ fostering justice-oriented, sustainable futures in tourism.

Utilizing a digital ethnographic approach, this paper analyzes images, texts, and videos from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and blogs, complemented by offline interviews with members of host communities. The study explores how these collaborative practices of representation contribute to new ways of “knowing” in tourism, aligned with environmental and cultural justice in the Anthropocene.