Transforming Tourists and "Culturalising Commerce": Indigenous Tourism at Bawaka in Northern Australia

Abstract

There is currently an increasing interest in Indigenous tourism in Australia. Policies in Australia often use the rhetoric of sustainability, but position Indigenous tourism as a means for economic growth and development (Whitford & Ruhanen, 2010). This study shows that interpersonal relationships, cultural and social interactions, and learning are key to achieving the goals of Indigenous tourism providers or "hosts," and to the experiences of tourists. This article explores tourist experiences of activities run by the Indigenous-owned tour company Bawaka Cultural Enterprises (hereafter BCE) in North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. BCE is an example of an Indigenous tourism business that aims to achieve social change by sharing of Indigenous ways of being, knowledges, and practices with non-Indigenous people during tours, whilst also ensuring that the business is sustainable and manageable for the family who runs it. In this sense, BCE's tourism activities can be understood as an attempt to "culturalise commerce," rather than commercialising culture (Bunten, 2010). In this article, we contribute to growing literature on transformative learning theory and tourism by considering tourists' narratives of their experiences with BCE. We focus on the way in which tourists are transformed by an increased connection to their hosts and their country. We argue that BCE's activities consciously introduce different ways of being to tourists and visitors. A growing awareness, understanding, and respect for these ways of being can inspire a sense of collective purpose and identity, and a deep emotional response to tours. Connection, however, is not always smooth and easy. Central to the process outlined in Mezirow's (1978) transformative learning theory are encounters and engagements with other people and different and unfamiliar contexts, which may lead to disorienting feelings and experiences. We argue that the practical aspects of being at Bawaka, combined with the new skills, task requirements, and political realities that commitment to new ways of being bring, can be disconcerting and disorienting for tourists. The availability of spaces and processes to reflect on these points of disorientation may determine whether these experiences challenge and/or contribute to personal transformation. These factors highlight areas for further exploration in developing a theory of transformative learning in the Indigenous context, and a need for policies to move beyond a narrow focus on economic aspects of tourism to consider the social and educational aims of both tourism ventures and tourists themselves.

Transformative learning in the field of sustainability: a systematic literature review (1999-2019)

“…This area encompasses research in learning environments that are not directly linked to educational institutions and formal programs. Research in this area predominantly covers how learning processes unfold in experiences of public participation, such as in resources and environmental management (Diduck et al, 2012), sustainable tourism (Coghlan and Gooch, 2011) and intercultural exchange (Lloyd et al, 2015). The fifth and final research areapolicy and guidelinesencompasses mostly conceptual elaborations on policy and general discourses on education and their links to ESD (Bell, 2016;Mochizuki, 2016), sometimes including more radical and novel perspectives (de Angelis, 2018;Lange, 2018) related to policy implications of specific topics, such as the role of technology education in ESD (Pavlova, 2013).…”

“…While only a few articles explicitly investigated the learners' prior perspectives and worldviews, the majority mentioned prior learning as part of learners' general background and sustainability-related experiences and thus as a general precondition for transformative learning. Learners' general background refers to expertise in a specific field or discipline and past experiences regarding the performance of specific tasks and socio-cultural interactions during educational interventions (Ritz, 2011;Lloyd et al, 2015;Kalsoom and Khanam, 2017;Sims, 2017). Sustainability-related experiences encompass learners' previous related knowledge from a formal academic background or their work experience as manifested in conceptual literacy or practical skills (Bell et al, 2016;Piasentin and Roberts, 2017;Cottafava et al, 2019).…”

“…The primary reported internal factor is that learners display readiness and openness for a transformative experience (Ball, 1999;Lange, 2004). This predisposition has multiple manifestations: excitement at taking part in new and challenging educational experiences (Blake et al, 2013), a willingness to be an active part of management and decision-making processes (Sinclair et al, 2013) and an interest in experiencing alternative tourism activities (Lloyd et al, 2015;Chao, 2017). Another manifestation is that, before the learning experience, individuals have already changed their frames of reference to contribute to sustainability both individually and socially (Kerton and Sinclair, 2010;Lankester, 2013).…”

Morrku Mangawu—Knowledge on the Land: Mobilising Yolŋu Mathematics from Bawaka, North East Arnhem Land, to Reveal the Situatedness of All Knowledges

“……it was the fact that we were on their land, hearing their stories, told their way in their time and having being invited to be part of that. You know, I really felt they were sharing something very important and special to them with us [35].…”

Meaningful tourist transformations with Country at Bawaka, North East Arnhem Land, northern Australia

“…These interviews form part of a broader, long-term Indigenous-academic collaborative research project (see, for example, Burarrwanga et al, 2013, Suchet-Pearson et al, 2013b; Wright et al, 2009). We recruited and conducted 26 in-depth interviews with tourists and visitors to Bawaka after they had been involved in tourism activities, in order to further understand the impact BCE’s tours have on tourists (see also Lloyd et al, 2015). These tourists and visitors were stimulated enough by their experiences at Bawaka to contact us and share their experiences in an interview and hence represent a particular type of interested and keen tourist.…”