CHR Summer Fellow Research Talk: PhD Candidate Ayondela McDole (Cultural Studies), "Working Paradise: An ethnographic study of tourism labor in the 21st century Caribbean"

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Horizon Hall 6325

Ayondela McDole holds a Master of Arts in Pan African Studies from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Studies from Columbia College Chicago. Her dissertation, "Working Paradise: An ethnographic study of tourism labor in the 21st century Caribbean," uses critical ethnography to examine the work experiences of a staff on a elite luxury resort in the Bahamas. The project, spanning five years, uses participant observations, oral histories and interviews to examine the day-to-day social relations between staff, management and tourists. In total, seventy interviews and oral histories were performed that included staff members, managers, consultants, and guests. By examining the workforce that sustains the tourism industry, Ayondela interrogates the exploitative nature of high-end tourism in the world today. Her other projects include the politics of Black representations in popular culture. 

Please join us in person in Horizon Hall 6325 or on zoom for a presentation and discussion. Zoom link will be provided through CHR's newsletter which you can sign up for HERE.