This project seeks to contribute to an extant conversation in the tourism literature regarding the 'forgotten voices' of the industry. Myriad workers behind the scenes, are often unattached to particular tourism business organisations. The point of departure for this project is that transportation is integral to the overall tourist experience (Page, 2005) and resonates with how tourists experience a destination, yet in-depth research into those phenomena is lacking (Song et al., 2012). Further, as a result of interactions with and narratives from these forgotten place-makers, visitors might access otherwise ‘secret’, local and hidden places, and thereby come closer to elusive authentic experiences. To understand this travel phenomena as part of the architecture of the place encounter, the student will consider the hitherto lightly-regarded role of the taxi driver in shaping the tourist imaginary, in adjusting and refining expectations of places arrived-at or visited. The study also focuses on the ways meanings are shared, negotiated and mediated from the front seat of a cab, but at the same time are unfiltered, partial, personal, and perhaps even disruptive. As such, the stranger be afforded a 'peeling back of a city's layers, potentially revealing a fascinating cultural milieu and a thickening of the sense of place. Mobile methods such as ‘ride-along’ ethnographies and conversation analysis will be employed.
The study is nested in a mobilities and place research group, based in Newcastle upon Tyne where ‘host-guest’ training of local cabbies was met with resistance. The PhD is undertaken in collaboration with NGI (Newcastle Gateshead Initiative) seeking to understand the value of local narratives in visitor experiences. Additional comparative work may also be undertaken at our campuses in London and Amsterdam. The research will form valuable consultation work and knowledge creation towards tourism and urban place development initiatives .
This project is supervised by Prof Peter Varley and Dr Sharon Wilson.
Eligibility and How to Apply:
Please note eligibility requirement:
- Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
- Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
- Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere or if they have previously been awarded a PhD.
For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/
Please note: Applications that do not include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words (not a copy of the advert), or that do not include the advert reference (e.g. RDF22/BL/EIS/VARLEY1) will not be considered.
Deadline for applications: 18 February 2022
Start Date: 1 October 2022
Northumbria University takes pride in, and values, the quality and diversity of our staff and students. We welcome applications from all members of the community.
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