Thesis
Community-based tourism in Paharpur, Bangladesh : its development and governance from an actor-network theory and a political economy perspective
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2025
- Thesis identifier
- T17434
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 202154708
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- As one of the fastest-growing industries, tourism has seen tremendous expansion and diversification worldwide. As a consequence, among several forms of tourism development, Community-based Tourism (CBT) has emerged as an alternative niche market. Tourism initiated, developed and managed by the local community for their own benefit can be regarded as CBT. Importantly, this form of tourism is gaining more and more popularity in developing countries as a catalyst for sustainable development. This study aims to explore the development process of CBT in an archaeological heritage site in the Global South by scrutinising the governance mechanism. Notably, this study uses Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and political economy understandings as twin approaches. This study relies on a single-case study research strategy using qualitative data collection methods such as semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The fieldwork was done in the local community of Paharpur, Bangladesh, with institutional representatives, local tourism enterprises and residents, and tourism experts in Bangladesh over a period of four months. The total number of respondents was 83. The findings demonstrate that CBT development in Paharpur was initiated in a top-down manner, with national and local authorities or agencies taking the initiative. This process involved various steps, including training programmes to encourage residents from the local community to participate in CBT. Authorities also invested in creating CBT products by arranging seminars, conferences, and workshops. They then handed over the responsibility of managing CBT to the local people. However, the local community faced several contestations and challenges with respect to governing CBT. Some of the difficulties included the commodification of their local culture and tradition; the involvement/influence of international actors like UNESCO limits local benefits from tourism; pressure from local elites and the lack of support from the local administration. Importantly, this study also reveals the strategies by local governing authorities to address some of these issues. This study contributes to the knowledge and literature by incorporating ANT and political economy concepts to study CBT governance. In particular, this study contributes to the theory in several ways, that is 1) applying ANT in the field of CBT where the result is the extension of the translation process - one of the components of ANT; 2) enhancing and extending the ANT literature by addressing and overcoming several criticisms related to ANT with respect to generalised symmetry, reflexivity, Machiavellian orientation, flat ontology and the inclusion and exclusion criteria of actors in a network. Additionally, this study engages with political economy understandings throughout, exploring the influence of capitalism, globalisation and local power dynamics in the context of CBT governance.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Booyens, Irma
- Tomazos, Konstantinos
- Resource Type
- DOI
- Funder
关系
项目
| 缩略图 | 标题 | 上传日期 | 公开度 | 行动 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
PDF of thesis T17434 | 2025-08-13 | 公开 | 下载 |
|
|
File | 2025-08-12 | 非公开 |