A postcolonial analysis of backpacking

Abstract

Backpacking research has mainly focused on Western backpackers even if their destinations are in less developed Asian countries. This paper engages a postcolonial approach to decenter the Western orientation and to reclaim epistemological space for the Asian backpacker who has been largely ignored. Khao San, the backpacker mecca of Southeast Asia is the case study to convey the racialized and gendered nature of backpacking. For tourism providers, these tourists as well as locals, Khao San is a farang landscape that marginalizes Asian backpackers and Asian women backpackers in particular because they are represented as exotic and erotic. Nevertheless, these stereotypes are being contested as the number of Asian backpackers increase in this location. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.