Just Passing Through: stakeholder constructs and value in Overland Truck Tourism through N.W. Zimbabwe

Newsome-Magadza, S. (2020) Just Passing Through: stakeholder constructs and value in Overland Truck Tourism through N.W. Zimbabwe. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This research seeks to identify and examine constructs and values held by tourists and stakeholders concerning the biophysical and sociocultural environments encountered along a six-day stretch of overland truck journey in North-Western Zimbabwe. An interpretivist approach is taken with the use of Kelly’s theory of Constructive Alternativism as a lens through which to address the formation of constructs of place. Using a multi-sited ethnographical framework (Marcus, 1995) an immersive approach enabled the researcher to participate on the journey with a group of overland truck tourists allowing for experience of place and also the internal dynamics of truck life. An in-depth interview containing an embedded repertory grid was used in discussion with tourist participants in order to extract prior constructs of place and to identify those constructs held soon after the journey. Further interviews with tourism brokers and local stakeholders took place after the trip. Constructs were coded and themes extracted revealing primarily emotional constructs of place. Participation exposed the wildlife focus of the tour and very limited contacts with local populations who were seen as the ‘other’ Urry (2011) through the windows of the truck. Short contacts with place meant that the tourists had little depth in encounter or ability to interpret what they saw. As a result, tourists retained and built upon constructs based upon narratives and interpretation of the environment framed through a European cultural lens, which were built upon and legitimised by a small number of brokers, primarily safari guides. The postcolonial recurs as an underlying theme when examining the data and constructs held and is also observable as linked to an inherited power dynamic within the tourism product. Local community members with little direct contact with the tourists held difference constructs of their environments viewing them holistically through a combination of spiritual and utilitarian meaning, but these remained largely invisible to the tourist. Suggestions to add value and address the sustainability of this form of tourism involve widening the narrative and partnerships amongst stakeholders.