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Tourism, ageing bodies and Chinese femininity

Author

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  • Li, Tingting Elle
  • Morgan, Nigel
  • Pritchard, Annette

Abstract

Despite increased social science engagement with the body, its sensuousness and everyday performativity, the tourism-ageing-embodiment nexus remains under-served, with the older female Asian body particularly neglected. Adopting a feminist participatory approach and employing audio-video diaries and in-depth semi-structured interviews, our study examines the embodied travel experiences of 24 older Chinese women. Our findings reveal how their travel experiences are constrained within an evolving Chinese ideology on gender, age and femininity and shaped by their life trajectories and experiences and social and family roles. At the same time, however, we reveal how tourism provides an empowering space, where they negotiate and subvert constraining conceptualizations of femininity. The study advances understandings of ageing, embodiment and tourism and challenges their Western dominance.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Tingting Elle & Morgan, Nigel & Pritchard, Annette, 2024. "Tourism, ageing bodies and Chinese femininity," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:105:y:2024:i:c:s0160738323001688
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2023.103695
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fan Yang & Ahmad Albattat, 2025. "Development and Validation of the ASSU Model for Age-Friendly E-Service Quality: An Independent Research Aligned With the ISO 25556:2025 Evidence From Senior Tourists in Guilin, China," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, November.
    2. Hatice Güçlü Nergiz & Fidel Toker, 2025. "Healthy Aging in the Tourism Industry: A Systematic Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, September.
    3. Yang, Michelle I.C., 2025. "Rethinking embodiment in tourism research," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Linao, Patricia Aida & Heimtun, Bente & Morgan, Nigel, 2024. "Digital nomadism, gender and racial power relations," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).

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