Abstract
This study explores the use of autobiographical storytelling as a pedagogical approach to tourism education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The study addresses two related challenges in both the higher education and tourism sectors. The first is the continued dominance of Eurocentric perspectives within tourism education and practice, despite the country’s multicultural context and calls for curriculum decolonisation. The second is the need to develop authentic storytelling skills among undergraduate tourism students, who will ultimately serve as interpreters of local culture and heritage. The study argues that tourism education should move beyond the reproduction of established destination narratives by enabling students to engage with their own cultural histories, lived experiences and local knowledge. In doing so, it investigates whether autobiographical storytelling can personalise the curriculum while strengthening students’ professional preparation as future tourism practitioners.
The project was situated within a first-year tourism module at CPUT. An assignment was developed with two objectives: to challenge traditional Eurocentric approaches to storytelling by encouraging students to collect autobiographical stories from their hometowns, and to create opportunities for authentic learning through engagement with local communities. The assignment was implemented during the COVID-19 lockdown period when students had to return to their home communities, and we had to negotiate different ways of engagement. This led to the development of an assignment that required students to source stories from residents and elders, rather than relying on the conventional tourist narratives of their area. This approach positioned students as knowledge holders rather than passive recipients of existing tourism narratives and sought to demonstrate the educational value of culturally situated storytelling, as students were able to use their own cultural and linguistic contexts as the basis for tourism storytelling.
The study adopted a qualitative exploratory narrative research design to investigate students’ experiences of collecting and interpreting local stories. Five undergraduate tourism students volunteered to participate. They represented diverse South African cultural backgrounds, including Lemba, Tswana, Zulu, Cape Malay and Xhosa communities. Before collecting the stories, participants completed an intensive ethics workshop that addressed informed consent, respectful interviewing and the ethical considerations associated with collecting personal and cultural narratives. Data collection occurred in three phases. Participants first returned to their hometowns to collect stories from community members and elders. These stories were then analysed to identify recurring cultural archetypes and themes. Semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted with participants to explore their experiences of collecting and interpreting these narratives. Finally, an elder was interviewed to verify cultural interpretations and ensure that the reported findings respected the traditions represented in the collected stories.
The narrative analysis of the collected stories identified six interconnected themes, referred to as “voices”, which represented participants’ experiences and illustrated the educational value of autobiographical storytelling. The first theme, genuine consideration of context, demonstrated that students successfully rooted their stories within their own geographical and cultural environments. Stories reflected local mythology, legends and community beliefs rather than established Western tourism narratives. Participants collected stories from locations across South Africa, including Limpopo, North West, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape, illustrating that authentic tourism narratives emerged directly from local cultural contexts.
The second theme highlighted water as a source of purification. Across several stories, water symbolised cleansing, peace, renewal and life. Participants explained that water played an important role in traditional ceremonies, including rites of passage and healing practices. These explanations were supported by the elder, who described the significance of river water in cleansing rituals associated with initiation ceremonies and traditional healing. Rather than functioning as a universal symbol, water acquired meaning through specific cultural practices and beliefs embedded within participants’ communities.
The third theme concerned the centrality of the African voice. Participants deliberately foregrounded African names, clan identities, symbols and local meanings within their stories. They explained that names carried prophetic significance and reflected identity, destiny and cultural heritage. Clan animals, including bees and snakes, functioned as symbolic representations whose meanings differed across communities. The elder reinforced this interpretation by explaining that sacred animals vary between clans and that identical symbols may possess different meanings depending on cultural context. These findings demonstrated that autobiographical storytelling enabled students to represent African cultural knowledge through locally meaningful symbols rather than externally imposed interpretations.
The fourth theme focused on African spirituality. Participants consistently described the importance of elders as custodians of knowledge and emphasised storytelling as a means of preserving history, religion and cultural values. Stories incorporated prophecy, dreams, ancestral guidance and religious beliefs as integral components of community life. Participants regarded ancestors as protectors and described dreams as meaningful forms of communication. One participant also highlighted the importance of religion within the Lemba community. Collectively, these findings demonstrated that spirituality formed an essential dimension of contextual storytelling and represented a significant component of participants’ cultural identities.
The fifth theme addressed the challenges associated with collecting cultural stories. Participants explained that access to communities often required permission from elders or other gatekeepers. Certain subjects, including initiation ceremonies, arranged marriages and aspects of religious practice, were considered culturally sensitive or inappropriate for public discussion. Participants also stressed that some sacred places should not be documented and that the use of photography commonly required permission or was considered disrespectful. The elder confirmed these concerns, noting that modern tourism practices sometimes conflict with traditional cultural expectations and emphasising the importance of respecting community protocols when collecting or presenting cultural narratives. These findings highlighted that cultural competence within tourism extends beyond knowledge acquisition to include ethical engagement with communities and traditions.
The final theme examined the perceived benefits of autobiographical storytelling from the perspective of the participants. It was consistently reported that collecting local stories deepened their understanding of their own cultural identities and broadened their understanding of tourism beyond Western destination narratives. They described becoming more curious about their communities, recognising that meaningful stories could be found in everyday places and also appreciating the value of local knowledge within tourism practices. Participants held that the assignment improved their professional preparation by equipping them to communicate authentic cultural narratives and to represent their communities more effectively as future tourism practitioners. They also indicated that the project encouraged reflective practice by prompting them to reconsider their assumptions about familiar places and recognise the diversity of perspectives that exist within their own communities.
The study also acknowledges several limitations. Some participants experienced difficulty translating stories from their home languages into English, which occasionally affected the clarity and narrative quality of the written stories. Furthermore, participants varied in their storytelling abilities, which reflected the absence of formal training in narrative construction. Nonetheless, the purpose of the project was not to evaluate the literary quality of their stories but rather to develop contextual awareness and authentic cultural engagement through storytelling.
The findings demonstrate that autobiographical storytelling provides an effective means of personalising tourism education while supporting curriculum decolonisation. By positioning students’ own cultural experiences at the centre of learning, the approach enabled participants to engage in contextual analysis, foreground African perspectives and develop greater awareness of the ethical responsibilities associated with representing culture. The study concludes that autobiographical storytelling should be integrated more fully into tourism curricula and recommends that tourism educators receive training in ethics and cultural competency to support this pedagogical approach. In preparing graduates who can act as informed cultural interpreters, autobiographical storytelling offers a practical means of strengthening both tourism education and professional practice.
Keywords: autobiographical narratives; community knowledge; cultural identity; ethical tourism education; narrative pedagogy; tourism practice
- This article’s featured image was created by Magda Ehlers and obtained from Pexels.