TY - JOUR
T1 - Death of a backpacker
T2 - Incidental but not random
AU - Cohen, Erik
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - This case study of the fatal shooting of a backpacker by a policeman in the otherwise peaceful town of Pai in northern Thailand aims to show that, though incidental, it was not just a random occurrence. Rather, the event can be interpreted in terms of wider social structural processes and personal agency. The growing tension between the police and the backpackers in town, partly resulting from pressures to upgrade the community for more up-market domestic tourism, created the conditions for the occurrence of the event; but the personal predispositions of the main antagonists exacerbated these tensions, eventuating in tragic consequences. The article examines the contrasting versions of the event, and the ‘ethno-victimology’, implicit in the manner various groups of foreigners allocated the responsibility for the shooting between the antagonists. The article concludes that the event may have a negative effect on backpackers’ image of Pai (but not on the domestic tourists’ image), while the growth in the number of foreigners killed in Thailand may have an accumulative effect on the touristic image of the country as a whole. Some ideas for the further study of events in tourism are suggested.
AB - This case study of the fatal shooting of a backpacker by a policeman in the otherwise peaceful town of Pai in northern Thailand aims to show that, though incidental, it was not just a random occurrence. Rather, the event can be interpreted in terms of wider social structural processes and personal agency. The growing tension between the police and the backpackers in town, partly resulting from pressures to upgrade the community for more up-market domestic tourism, created the conditions for the occurrence of the event; but the personal predispositions of the main antagonists exacerbated these tensions, eventuating in tragic consequences. The article examines the contrasting versions of the event, and the ‘ethno-victimology’, implicit in the manner various groups of foreigners allocated the responsibility for the shooting between the antagonists. The article concludes that the event may have a negative effect on backpackers’ image of Pai (but not on the domestic tourists’ image), while the growth in the number of foreigners killed in Thailand may have an accumulative effect on the touristic image of the country as a whole. Some ideas for the further study of events in tourism are suggested.
KW - Event analysis
KW - Pai town
KW - Police and tourists
KW - Thailand
KW - Tourism and crime
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85008857237&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14766820802647624
DO - 10.1080/14766820802647624
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AN - SCOPUS:85008857237
SN - 1476-6825
VL - 6
SP - 209
EP - 226
JO - Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change
JF - Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change
IS - 3
ER -