I am a PhD candidate currently conducting research on informal and small-scale tourism economies located in the Perhentian Islands of Malaysia. My work is situated within a post-development and post-capitalist framework and aims to uncover ways of rethinking existing theoretical constructs used to describe small-scale tourism. I am primarily interested in how such forms of tourism provide an avenue for local resistance to dominant development models and how informal tourism development strategies can emerge from community organization, rather than structured development programs. Such ‘grass-roots’ participation has the potential for incorporating local social and environmental needs whilst acknowledging the conflicts and contestations which may exist. In addition, it can allow us to situate community activities outside of traditional economic frameworks, allowing for a more diverse conceptualization of economic practices.

 In my research project I will draw on the notion of subject creation to examine how the discursive constructs used to frame small-scale, locally-driven tourism development creates a particular understanding of these practices and individuals. Within tourism, hegemonic narratives of development and capitalist economies traditionally promote large-scale, organized projects, ignoring or discouraging small-scale and informal ventures. This particularly impacts ‘traditional’ or strictly religious communities whose views are presented as obstacles to development, portrayed as parochial and ‘un-modern’ for failing to embrace the promotion of structured development. Such perspectives present communities involved in tourism as passive recipients of tourism, rather than acknowledging the multiple motivations which exist for individual and community participation. My research seeks to highlight this multiple and fragmented nature of informal tourism focusing on how economic activity is conceptualized by the local community; how is it valued, what are the motivations for economic choices and how do these vary across social groups.