The Political Economy of Backpacker Tourism Consumption and Production in Colombia

Backpacker tourism has been an increasing phenomenon since the 1960s (Cohen 1973; Hampton 2013), and many Less Developed Countries (LDCs) are now favourite destinations for backpackers. This backpacker tourism development raises questions about the effects it has on the host communities as well as on the backpackers themselves However, the impact of backpacker tourism development on the power relations between the actors of this development, i.e. the backpackers, the host communities with their businesses, and the governmental actors, have been little explored. This thesis examines the relationship between backpacker tourism development and the power relations between the backpackers, the host communities with their businesses, and the governmental actors in Colombia. Adopting a broad Political Economy (PE) approach, the thesis investigates the backpacker tourism development in two rural communities, one a long-standing backpacker tourism destination, the other one a more recent development. The study includes the three main actors of tourism development: the backpackers as tourism consumers, the businesses catering to them as tourism producers, and the governmental actors influencing backpacker tourism development. It analyses the actors' social, cultural and political embeddedness within their respective communities. The thesis explores how these three main actors of backpacker tourism development interact with each other, how they are interlinked in the two researched communities on the three types of embeddedness mentioned above, and how they affect and are affected by backpacker tourism development. The thesis key contribution is the theoretical framework. It investigates the interaction between consumption and production, as advocated by (Ateljevic 2000), while also anchoring the three actors in the social, cultural and political structures they act within. It combines two existing frameworks into a new, holistic one: The first one is a framework by Ferguson (2011), focussing on small-scale actors in rural communities, and also on the consumption patterns of consumers from LDCs, in this case on Latin American backpackers travelling within Latin America (Colombia). The second component of the framework is Mosedale's (2011) theoretical framework that examines the embeddedness of the actors of tourism development on three different types: their structural embeddedness into social structures and networks, their cultural embeddedness, and their political embeddedness on a local, regional and national level. The thesis' new framework therefore provides one answer to the call for more theorisation, both in tourism studies (see Bianchi 2009; Hannam 2002; Tribe 2006) and in PE (see Britton 1982). It further focusses on small-scale actors, in this case backpacker tourism Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) instead of Transnational Enterprises (TNCs) as often investigated in tourism and PE studies (e.g. Britton 1982; Freitag 1994). The research aim was addressed in an ethnographic field study, consisting of mainly interviews (n=53) with backpackers, backpacker tourism business owners, and policy makers in two different fieldwork locations in Colombia. Additional data was collected through participant observation, policy document analysis, and other supporting methods such as mapping exercises and the analysis of online and offline travel materials. The findings show that backpacker tourism development often reinforced unequal power relations that were prevalent within the communities and on a global scale. For example, on the production side, this includes issues such as the access to knowledge of the backpacker market by local business owners, resulting in foreign business owners with travel experience having more knowledge power over the locals competing in the same market. On the consumption side, many backpackers from developed countries possessed more financial power to travel for prolonged periods of time in comparison to their Latin American counterparts, who travelled for less time or had to work while travelling. Furthermore, the local government's involvement in tourism development seemed to be vital for a more successful execution of backpacker tourism within the communities, with a lack of involvement leading to a power vacuum in one community that was filled by shadow industries. The theoretical contribution of the thesis include that it brings in different voices by including different actors of tourism development from different national and social backgrounds. The inclusiveness of all actors and the structures they work within into one framework allows for a more accurate analysis of the processes of tourism development and its implicit power relations that help to shape backpacker tourism development. It also gives a better indication of why these processes happen the way they do, and how the actors work within the given social, cultural and political structures. The new framework and the analysis could then lead to a more thorough and integrated analysis, considering all actors and their influence upon tourism development and on each other. The analysis of the findings also propose some practical implications for tourism businesses and policy makers, such as an upscale shift in the backpacker tourism market, artesano backpackers bridging the gap between tourism producers and consumers, and the need for the local and regional government to invest in the education of their citizens to enable them to successfully participate in the (backpacker) tourism business

Analysing Backpacker Tourism in Rural Colombia: Towards a Political Economy Framework

Tourist arrivals have grown at more than 5% in Latin America, growing at 12% in Colombia in 2014 (UNWTO). Although little official data exists, it seems that backpacker tourism is a thriving segment in Latin America. Both the improved security and the improved economic situation in those countries means that more people are able to travel within Latin America, though the impacts of tourism development there have not been sufficiently explored yet. This paper introduces a new framework to analyse tourism development and its impacts on rural, local communities in Less Developed Countries (LDCs), adopting a Political Economy approach, building on Ferguson's (2011) and Mosedale's (2011) work. The new framework combines the consumption and production side of tourism, a shortcoming of the perceived dichotomy as identified by Ateljevic (2001). For a deeper understanding of the impacts of production and consumption on a local community in a rural setting, the social, cultural and political embeddedness of all the actors of the researched communities are investigated. The study also looks at the links between the local and global actors who are brought together through tourism development in an LDC, and the resulting power structures in the communities. The paper discusses the elements of the framework in detail, and shows their usefulness in understanding the political economy underlying tourism development in rural communities that rely heavily on tourism. The paper builds on extensive fieldwork (n = 53 interviews) in two rural communities in Colombia to test the framework. On the consumption side, the initial analysis of regional and international backpackers and their travel behaviour revealed tendencies for different preferences such as geographical destination or length of stay for Latin Americans in comparison to Western backpackers. On the production side, small- and medium-sized enterprises catering to these types of tourists, their development, and their relationship within each other and within their community are investigated. The resulting insights reveal the complex relationships and social, cultural and political interdependencies of the actors, which seem to influence the development of the community

Adolescent Basic Facial Emotion Recognition Is Not Influenced by Puberty or Own-Age Bias

Basic facial emotion recognition is suggested to be negatively affected by puberty onset reflected in a “pubertal dip” in performance compared to pre- or post-puberty. However, findings remain inconclusive. Further, research points to an own-age bias, i.e., a superior emotion recognition for peer faces. We explored adolescents’ ability to recognize specific emotions. Ninety-five children and adolescents, aged 8–17 years, judged whether the emotions displayed by adolescent or adult faces were angry, sad, neutral, or happy. We assessed participants a priori by pubertal status while controlling for age. Results indicated no “pubertal dip”, but decreasing reaction times across adolescence. No own-age bias was found. Taken together, basic facial emotion recognition does not seem to be disrupted during puberty as compared to pre- and post-puberty

Seronegative myasthenic crisis: a multicenter analysis

Myasthenic crisis (MC) is a life-threatening condition for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Seronegative patients represent around 10–15% of MG, but data on outcome of seronegative MCs are lacking. We performed a subgroup analysis of patients who presented with MC with either acetylcholine-receptor-antibody-positive MG (AChR-MG) or seronegative MG between 2006 and 2015 in a retrospective German multicenter study. We identified 15 seronegative MG patients with 17 MCs and 142 AChR-MG with 159 MCs. Seronegative MCs were younger (54.3 ± 14.5 vs 66.5 ± 16.3 years; p = 0.0037), had a higher rate of thymus hyperplasia (29.4% vs 3.1%; p = 0.0009), and were more likely to be female (58.8% vs 37.7%; p = 0.12) compared to AChR-MCs. Time between diagnosis of MG and MC was significantly longer in seronegative patients (8.2 ± 7.6 vs 3.1 ± 4.4 years; p < 0.0001). We found no differences in duration of mechanical ventilation (16.2 ± 15.8 vs 16.5 ± 15.9 days; p = 0.94) and length of stay at intensive care unit (17.6 ± 15.2 vs 17.8 ± 15.4 days; p = 0.96), or in-hospital mortality (11.8% vs. 10.1%; p = 0.69). We conclude that MC in seronegative MG affects younger patients after a longer period of disease, but that crisis treatment efficacy and outcome do not differ compared to AChR-MCs

Sportler und Verein: Eine Musterathletenvereinbarung

Unchanged in content. In the last 10 years, Athletenvereinbarungen have established themselves between sportsmen and associations. But the clubs should also strive for active legal cooperation outside the sports business with their athletes. But are these agreements not just instruments for the association to gag the athletes themselves? Will this not restrict the individual marketing rights and thus also the chances of the athlete? These questions are to be investigated in the first part of the book. The aim is to clarify the theoretical foundations of Athletenvereinbarungen and to explain them in the example of an association's agreement. The author Juliane Thieme first clarifies the legal classification of the sport. Subsequently, the Athletenvereinbarung is defined as a legal transaction and marketing rights are generally listed and defined. Then the clauses of the agreement of the Association are analyzed and possible sources of error are revealed. On this basis, the author then creates a Musterathletenvereinbarung for an association and explains its paragraphs. The book is aimed at associations and associations, decision-makers and managers in sports, trainers and sponsors

Adolescent Basic Facial Emotion Recognition Is Not Influenced by Puberty or Own-Age Bias

Basic facial emotion recognition is suggested to be negatively affected by puberty onset reflected in a “pubertal dip” in performance compared to pre- or post-puberty. However, findings remain inconclusive. Further, research points to an own-age bias, i.e., a superior emotion recognition for peer faces. We explored adolescents’ ability to recognize specific emotions. Ninety-five children and adolescents, aged 8–17 years, judged whether the emotions displayed by adolescent or adult faces were angry, sad, neutral, or happy. We assessed participants a priori by pubertal status while controlling for age. Results indicated no “pubertal dip”, but decreasing reaction times across adolescence. No own-age bias was found. Taken together, basic facial emotion recognition does not seem to be disrupted during puberty as compared to pre- and post-puberty

The Political Economy of Backpacker Tourism: Explorations of Tourism Actors’ Embeddedness in Colombia

Located in a broad Political Economy approach, this paper presents a new conceptual framework, based on Ferguson (2010) and Mosedale (2011), to assess the reciprocal relationship between tourism development and the power relations of the main actors within the backpacker tourism sector: backpackers; businesses catering for them; and tourism policy makers. We explore how these power relations change through the actors’ social, cultural and political embeddedness. An ethnographic multi-method approach was applied to the under-researched Latin American context with fieldwork conducted in Salento, Colombia. The analysis demonstrates that power inequalities exist concerning knowledge, financial and social power that did not seem to be diminished by backpacker tourism development. We further found that social and cultural embeddedness informed the political embeddedness of the actors. Our findings have important implications for policy makers addressing power inequalities in tourism