Table Of ContentMAKING A LIVING IN THE WORLD OF TOURISM
Livelihoods in Backpacker Tourism
in Urban Indonesia
Erika Sörensson
Doctoral Thesis
Department of Social and Economic Geography
Umeå University
GERUM 2008:2
GERUM – kulturgeografi 2008:2
Kulturgeografiska institutionen
Umeå universitet
SE – 901 87 UMEÅ
Department of Social and Economic Geography
Umeå University
SE – 901 87 UMEÅ, Sweden
Tel: + 46 (0)90 786 71 52
Fax: + 46 (0)90 786 63 59
http://www.umu.se/soc_econ_geography/
E-mail:
To Melle for travelling with me and
to Khethech for giving me reasons to stay put.
♥
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although I am solely responsible for its contents, the completion of this book
would not have been possible without support from a number of persons to
whom I am deeply indebted.
First, I want to express my gratitude to the people of Yogyakarta’s Sosrowijayan
area who have taken time to enlighten me on the issues covered in this book.
Without your participation in the interviews, help with practical matters, generos-
ity and friendship this project would never have materialised. Pertama, dan terutama,
saya mau ucapkan terima kasih kepada semua teman di daerah Sosro, Yogyakarta, yang telah
membantu saya untuk merealisasikan buku ini. Kalian anda adalah paling top! I am also
grateful to Bakti Setiawan at the Centre for Environmental Studies (Pusat Studi
Lingkungan Hidup) at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta for inviting me to
present my ideas at an early stage in the process. Terima kasih banyak Pak Bobi.
At Umeå University’s Department of Social and Economic Geography, a number
of persons have supported my interest in Indonesia, tourism, and development.
Fred Hedkvist was a key person in sustaining my dreams from early on. Thank
you Fred, for granting me the possibility to return to Indonesia seven years ago; it
was a life changing trip for me, as you know. Dieter K. Müller has encouraged my
interest in tourism geography since I was an undergraduate. He persuaded me to
start graduate studies and has supervised me since the beginning. Thank you Di-
eter, for getting this project going.
Aina Tollefsen has done an extraordinary job in supervising me. I am deeply
thankful Aina, for your great patience, diplomatic skills, and seemingly unlimited
knowledge. Thank you for always (at least pretending to) believing in me and en-
couraging (almost) all my different ideas and positions throughout these years.
Thank you for your unique way of always remaining consistent, constructive and
professional, and for challenging me to achieve greater clarity. Without your low-
key, yet persistent, support I would have given up a long time ago. Lotta
Brännlund and Margit Söderberg have helped me with practical matters during my
years at the department, and Magnus Strömgren designed excellent maps for my
book.
During my graduate studies I have been part of the National Graduate School of
Gender Studies, an important source of knowledge and inspiration, not least
through the members of ‘Seminariegrupp 1’ and its different conveners: Britta
Lundgren, Hildur Kalman and Kerstin Norlander. My work has benefitted from
the comments of persons who have scrutinised my texts at different stages in the
writing process. I am indebted to Malin Rönnblom and C. Michael Hall for con-
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structive comments at my ‘mid-time’ seminar. Erika Andersson Cederholm pro-
vided me with supportive and inspiring comments at my ‘final’ seminar.
I have had the privilege of sharing my interest in global issues with wonderful col-
leagues from different disciplines over the years. Linda Helgesson has been my
companion from day one. Thank you Linda, for your support and encouragement,
and for all the laughter you provided me with as my next-door neighbour for
many years. Ann-Louise Bäcktorp has shared my interest in Southeast Asia. Thank
you Annlo, for your wonderful sense of humour and for being an excellent travel
companion on our excursions in the field of Asian studies. Ulrika Schmauch was a
key person in our ‘pokogrupp’, a small group of graduate students who shared an
interest in the field of post-colonial studies. Thank you Ulrika, for great inspira-
tion. Jonny Bergman was a vital colleague in the group of people with whom I
have held courses in Development Geography. Thank you Jonny, for rewarding
discussions and your insightful comments during the final stage of the writing
process. Linda Berg has been an important source of support during the course of
this project. Thank you Linda, for being a great colleague and an amazing friend.
Outside of the academic world I am indebted to Marielle Sällström, without
whom I would probably never have had the idea to write a book about tourism
workers in Indonesia in the first place. Thank you Marielle, our travels and talks
formed the foundation of my interest in international mobility and its conse-
quences, and have been lode stars for me in trying to figure out what kind of a
book I wanted to write. Pram Pramudji has been an important source of friend-
ship and inspiration. Thank you Pram, for the much needed breaks you contrib-
uted to by calling me at the office, for helping me with practical matters in Jogja,
and for beautiful photographs. I am also indebted to Ute Kampert, who was my
host on a number of my holidays to Bali. Thank you Ute, for your friendship and
wonderful hospitality.
I am deeply obliged to my large and multi-local family. Terakhir, tapi sangat penting
sekali adalah keluarga saya, yang berada di beberapa lokalitas di dunia ini. Thank you to
Arne, Margot, Bert-Olof, Robert and Victoria for love and support. The late
Soediro Oetomo, who was born in what was then the Dutch East Indies lived
through the horrors and joys of what was to become modern day Indonesia. In
our conversations he taught me a lot about Indonesian history and society. Being a
part of his great family has been an important source of inspiration and happiness
over many years now. Terima kasih banyak kepada keluarga besar almarhum Bapak
Soediro Oetomo: Mbak Tituk, Mas Dodo, Mas Anto, Mas Bowo, Mbak Tutik, Mbak Wi-
wik, Mas Totok, dan Mas Yuli, beserta keluarga kalian semua. Finally the persons clos-
est to my heart: Winarto, my husband and life companion who has endured close
to me during the coming into being of this book. Thank you, sayang, for your
ii
enormous patience and stubborn way of loving me. And little Arwid, matahatiku,
my son and greatest joy in life.
Umeå in April 2008
Erika Sörensson
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CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES vii
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Arriving 1
1.2 Approaching a research problem 2
1.3 Purpose of the study 6
1.4 The structure of the book 7
2. METHODOLOGY 9
2.1 Roads to knowledge production 9
2.2 Constructivist Grounded Theory 11
2.3 The fieldwork 13
2.4 Methodological reflexivity 16
2.5 Interpretation and writing process 18
3. THEORETICAL POINTS OF DEPARTURE 21
3.1 Globalisation 21
3.2 Conceptualisations of space and place in a globalised world 26
3.2.1 The dialectic relationship between the global and the local 27
3.3 Postcolonial perspectives 31
3.3.1 Postcolonial feminisms 3
3.4 Livelihoods, agency and informality 36
3.4.1 Informality 40
3.4.2 Politics of suport mobilisation 41
3.5 Summary 42
4. RESEARCH CONTEXTS: TOURISM, WORK AND GENDER
IN THE ‘THIRD WORLD’ 45
4.1 Tourism in the ‘Third World’ 45
4.2 Backpacker/ Low-budget tourism 46
4.3 Gender perspectives in tourism research on employment 47
4.4 Social constructions of gender in Indonesia 48
4.5 Tourism development in Indonesia 51
4.4.1 Tourism as a strategy for economic development in Indonesia 52
5. THE SOSRO AREA: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF PEOPLE
AND PLACE IN A TOURIST NEIGHBOURHOOD 57
5.1 The research site 57
5.2 Perceptions of the Sosrowijayan area as a red-light district 61
5.3 Constructions of tourism workers as ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ 65
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6. WORKING IN THE WORLD OF TOURISM: FORMAL
EMPLOYEES AND INFORMAL GUIDES 73
6.1 Working in hotels, restaurants and cafes 73
6.2 Running the family business 76
6.3 Making a living in the informal sector 77
6.4 The unlicensed guides’ organisation 85
6.5 The economic and social aspects of the organisation 87
6.6 The organisation in 2004 89
6.7 Summary 91
7. DOING BUSINESS WITH TOURISTS: ENCOUNTERING
THE SAME AND/OR THE OTHER? 93
7.1 ‘Tourists’ and ‘locals’ 93
7.2 Economic differences 95
7.3 Different shopping preferences 98
7.4 Socio-cultural differences 100
8. GENDERED PERCEPTIONS OF WORK(ERS) IN
THE WORLD OF TOURISM 107
8.1 Female informal guides 109
8.2 Providers of fun 112
9. EXPERIENCES OF (IM)MOBILITY 119
9.1 Travelling and circular migration as exclusive experiences 119
9.2 Visiting friends and relatives 122
10. FUTURE PROSPECTS IN TIMES OF CRISES 129
10.1 Coping with crises 129
10.2 Future prospects 133
11. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION 141
SAMMANFATTNING 153
REFERENCES 165
Appendix: Interview guide 179
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