This book is the first to explore Asian gendered identities and tourism from both Asian and Western perspectives. The authors reflect on the role of tourism in producing, reiterating and resisting existing gendered structures of power in Asia and on their own experiences of understanding and negotiating Western and Asian identities and practices.

While gender research in tourism has become increasingly important within Western academic circles, little has been written from an Asian perspective. This book is the first to address this knowledge gap and to fully explore Asian gendered identities and tourism. The chapters reflect upon the role of tourism in producing, reiterating and resisting existing gendered structures of power in Asia. The authors attempt to reconcile both Asian and Western perspectives on gender using their own personal experiences of understanding and negotiating Western and Asian identities and practices. The book paves the way for important reflections about the ontological and epistemological meanings of ‘Asia’, ‘gender’ and ‘tourism’. It is an important resource for researchers from a range of disciplines including tourism, leisure studies, Asian studies and feminist and gender studies, as well as for professionals working in the tourism industry.

1. Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore and Paolo Mura: Introduction: The Embodiment of Gender and ‘Asianness’ in Tourism

2. Elaine Chiao Ling Yang and Paolo Mura: Asian Gendered Identities in Tourism

3. Elaine Chiao Ling Yang and Rokhshad Tavakoli: “Doing” Tourism Gender Research in Asia: An Analysis of Authorship, Research Topic and Methodology

4. Lim Tau Sian and Paolo Mura: Asian Gendered Performance in Tourism

5. Karun Rawat and Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore: The Impact of Masculinities in Researcher-Respondent Relationship: A Socio-Historical Perspective

6. Eunice Tan and Barkathunnisha Abu Bakar: The Asian Female Tourist Gaze: A Conceptual Framework

7. Roksana Badruddoja: “Home” as a Mobile Cultural Diaspora: South Asian American Women and the Conceptualisation of Holidays in America

8. Rokhshad Tavakoli: My Journeys in Second life: An Autonetnography

9. Paolo Mura and Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore: Conclusion