Power and resistance: Digital-free tourism in a connected world

Cai, Wenjie and McKenna, Brad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2219-7508 (2023) Power and resistance: Digital-free tourism in a connected world. Journal of Travel Research, 62 (2). pp. 290-304. ISSN 0047-2875

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Abstract

Although digital-free tourism is growing in popularity, research in this area has not unpacked the complex power relations between humans and technology through a critical perspective. Building on Foucault’s analysis of power and resistance, we theorized technology as disciplinary power and conducted a collaborative autoethnography to explore how individuals resist the dominant discourse. Through a reflexive account, we theorize digital-free travel as a process of negotiating and rejecting the dominant discourse of technology, particularly through effective personal strategies of engaging in full disconnection, redefining punishments and rewards, recalling nostalgic memories, and constantly reflecting on embodied feelings and self-transformations in the power relations. Theoretically, this study contributes to understanding digital-free tourism through the lens of power and resistance; it also contributes to critical studies in technology and tourism. Methodologically, we emphasize the potential of applying collaborative autoethnography in analyzing embodied self-transformations. Practically, this study offers suggestions for digital-free tourism providers.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: foucault,autoethnography,digital-free tourism,disciplinary power,resistance,geography, planning and development,transportation,tourism, leisure and hospitality management ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3305
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Innovation, Technology and Operations Management
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 27 Oct 2021 02:24
Last Modified: 09 Jan 2023 09:32
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/81894
DOI: 10.1177/00472875211061208

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