Global Citizenship & Parrhesia in Small Values-Based Tourism Firms

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the relationship between justice and tourism and the tension between consumerism and citizenship within the context of small values-based tourism firms. We combine Foucault’s concept of parrhesia, the speaking of “truth to power”, with Latour’s Actor-Network Theory to show how those businesses are situated in an interconnected world, where the global/local distinction is flattened. This qualitative study adopts a narrative approach which consists of in-depth, unstructured interviews with owner-managers of small Italian tour operators. This research suggests that small firms largely make sense of themselves as global citizens; ‘truth-tellers’, pursuing justice in response to the 21st Century’s crises and challenges. In this scenario, alternative tourism forms of production and consumption centered on human beings and their roles in society become central. Thus, we advocate for the emergence of ways to resist capitalist forms of tourism through collective acts of activism.