Nothing About Us Without Us: Reimagining Tourism Research Through Participatory and Decolonizing Methodologies

Abstract

Tourism research has increasingly recognized the importance of participation, inclusion, and social justice. However, knowledge production remains dominated by researcher-led, expert-centered approaches that often marginalize the lived experiences of those most affected by tourism. While participatory and decolonizing methodologies have gained momentum across social sciences, their collective contribution to tourism research remains synthesized. This perspective article argues that the principle “Nothing About Us Without Us” provides a compelling foundation for reimagining tourism research through more inclusive and epistemically just approaches to knowledge production. Drawing on scholarship from childism, disability studies, Indigenous research methodologies, and community-led approaches, the article reviews recent methodological developments that challenge extractive research practices and reposition participants as collaborators, co-researchers, and knowledge holders. Although these traditions have emerged from diverse disciplinary and cultural contexts, they share a commitment to relationality, reciprocity, self-determination, and co-producing knowledge. It argues that these approaches collectively represent a broader methodological shift from conducting research on communities toward research with and increasingly by communities. Rather than proposing alternative research techniques, this article advocates transforming how tourism research conceptualizes expertise. It concludes by proposing six guiding principles for participatory and decolonizing tourism research that support more ethical, culturally responsive, and socially transformative knowledge production.