Category Archives: Destination Slum

Touring Katutura – New Publication on township tourism in Namibia

A new study on township tourism in Namibia has been published by a team of researchers from Osnabrück University including Malte Steinbrink, Michael Buning, Martin Legant, Berenike Schauwinhold and Tore Süßenguth.

Guided sightseeing tours of the former township of Katutura have been offered in Windhoek since the mid-1990s. City tourism in the Namibian capital had thus become, at quite an early point in time, part of the trend towards utilising poor urban areas for purposes of tourism – a trend that set in at the beginning of the same decade. Frequently referred to as “slum tourism” or “poverty tourism”, the phenomenon of guided tours around places of poverty has not only been causing some media sensation and much public outrage since its emergence; in the past few years, it has developed into a vital field of scientific research, too. “Global Slumming” provides the grounds for a rethinking of the relationship between poverty and tourism in world society. This book is the outcome of a study project of the Institute of Geography at the School of Cultural Studies and Social Science of the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. It represents the first empirical case study on township tourism in Namibia.

It focuses on four aspects: 1. Emergence, development and (market) structure of township tourism in Windhoek 2. Expectations/imaginations, representations as well as perceptions of the township and its inhabitants from the tourist’s perspective 3. Perception and assessment of township tourism from the residents’ perspective 4. Local economic effects and the poverty-alleviating impact of township tourism The aim is to make an empirical contribution to the discussion around the tourism-poverty nexus and to an understanding of the global phenomenon of urban poverty tourism.

Free download of the study from here:

https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9591

Slum Tourism Themed Issue 2015

After the second Slum Tourism Network conference in Potsdam in May 2014 several of the papers have now been published in a themed issue in the journal Tourism Review International Volume 18, Number 4. The second part of the themed issue will be published in summer 2015.

slum tourism special issue

Here is the table of content of Part 1. Find the abstracts here.

 

Tourism Review International

THEMED ISSUE
SLUM TOURISM—PART 1

Slum Tourism: State of the Art 237
Fabian Frenzel, Ko Koens, Malte Steinbrink, and Christian M. Rogerson

Smart Tourism Investment: Planning Pathways to Break the Poverty Cycle 253
Moustafa A. Mekawy

Reimagining the Geography of the Favelas: Pacification, Tourism, and Transformation in Complexo Do Alemão, Rio de Janeiro 269
Emily LeBaron

Touring the Demolished Slum? Slum Tourism in the Face of Delhi’s Gentrification 283
Tore Holst

“So, Child Protection, I’ll Make a Quick Point of it Now”: Broadening the Notion of Child Abuse in Volunteering Vacations in Siem Reap, Cambodia 295
P. Jane Reas

 

Prior to this themed issue a special issue in the German Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft was published in late 2014 with several papers from the conference.

Second Destination Slum Conference

CFP: Second Destination Slum Conference

New Development and Perspectives in Slum Tourism Research

14-16 May 2014, University of Potsdam, Germany

www.destinationslum.com

In December 2010 slum tourism researchers gathered in Bristol, UK, for the first international “Destination Slum” conference addressing specifically the aesthetic, economic, historical, political and social DSCN0772dimensions of slum tourism. Slum tourism, defined broadly as touristic visits to urban areas of relative poverty, remains a controversial pastime. Despite the controversies this leisure practice is on the rise globally, in developing as well as developed countries. New destinations are added to an already comprehensive list of locations while some older destinations shows signs of maturity and saturation with high levels of diversification, policy interventions, including the integration of slum tourism into urban regeneration and urban tourism strategies. Slum Tourism seems to have entered a new phase.

Just like the development of the phenomenon of slum tourism, academic research has picked up in speed as well, accounting for the phenomenon in a range of case studies from diverse disciplines. The foci of research have also shifted beyond the pertinent questions of ethics, impact and motivation, to address the multiple connections of slum tourism to other forms of tourism, like volunteering, sustainable tourism, community based and pro-poor-tourism or dark tourism and others. Moreover researchers have turned to discuss the possible contributions research on slum tourism can make to questions arising in the study of global phenomena and questions like mobilities, social movements and protest, urban regeneration, security, mega events or poverty alleviation.

Slum tourism research has reached a new phase  and the second conference of the network will enable an engaged exchange of the insights gained over the last few years. We aim to better understand the recent rapid expansion and diversification of slum tourism as well as to develop new perspectives on the phenomenon.

We‚d like to invite empirical and theoretical papers that discuss slum tourism and related phenomena in various destinations, comparative research focusing on different case studies as well as conceptual cognate questions such as, but not limited to

theoretical reflections on slum tourism
tourism and poverty alleviation
informal economies ˆ informal tourism
authenticity and valorisation regimes in slum tourism
slum tourism in urban policy
urban regeneration, gentrification and tourism
slum tourism and mega-events
(changing) moral and ethical views on slum tourism
security, slum and tourism
entrepreneurship in slum tourism
social functions/roles of slum tourism
justice tourism and solidarity travel
volunteer tourism and poverty
economies of charity and slum tourism
the migration/tourism nexus and the slum
identity, culture and slum tourism
literary slumming in writing, film and games
histories of slum tourism and slumming

Please submit your abstract of up to 300 words with affiliation and contact details using the submit abstract page on the conference webpage. All abstracts will be peer-reviewed by members of the conference committee and we will notify within four weeks of your submission. Accepted papers are to be considered for publication in a special issue of an academic journal (negotiations are underway).

UPDATED Deadline for abstract submissions: 1st of March 2014

Conference Webpage:

www.destinationslum.com
We are also happy to accept panel proposal via conference (at) slumtourism.net

Conference Cost

The conference fee is 100 Euros (50 Euros for post-graduate and non-waged
researchers) and covers conference two lunches and two dinners, coffee and
refreshments as well as a side programme.

Destination Slum! great success

The international conference on slum tourism that was held in Bristol from 9-11 December was a great success. Delegates from 6 continents discussed a wide variety of subjects dealing with tourism in slums around the world.

The conference started with an interesting and entertaining discussion of tourism in the favelas by keynote speaker Bianca Freire Medeiros. Following this,  24 other presentations were given that sparked off great discussions not only directly following the presentation, but also during coffee breaks and the evening programme.

To all that came, thank you very much for your input. Let’s hope we can follow up on the momentum of this conference to increase research and insights regarding slum tourism so that a follow up conference can be organised soon! In the meantime the RC21 conference in Amsterdam may be a next meeting point for those doing research on tourism in slum areas.

Conference on Slum Tourism in Bristol, UK 9-11 December 2010

Langa Township, South AfricaThe conference Destinationa Slum! which is organised in Bristol,UK 9-11 December and aims to bring together researchers of slum and poverty tourism in urban areas, is shaping up to be an exciting event. Over 20 proposals of papers have been accepted and will be presented. More information about the conference can be found on its website.

For those wishing to attend, the deadline for the call for papers has now passed but it is still possible to attend the conference without presenting. The cost of attendance is £ 50.00 for graduate students or independent researchers without full employment and £ 100.00 for full academic researchers and researchers in full employment. To secure a place people can register here and pay the fee here (fees are paid through the University of the West of England).