At the last session of the Short Course 2025, Dr. Freya Higgins-Desbiolles from the University of South Australia delivered a compelling presentation titled “Regenerative Tourism and Indigenous Knowledges: Appreciation, Appropriation and Allyship.” The session was moderated by Wildan Namora Ichsan Setiawan, S.I.Kom., M.Sc. , a lecturer in Communication Science at Universitas Diponegoro.
Dr. Higgins-Desbiolles began by framing regenerative tourism not merely as an extension of sustainable tourism, but as a transformational approach that aims to create net positive effects by increasing the regenerative capacity of both human societies and ecosystems. She immediately pivoted to a critical issue emerging within the field, highlighting concerns that the regenerative tourism movement often risks appropriating frameworks and knowledge from Indigenous worldviews without proper acknowledgment or benefit to the source communities.
To navigate this, Dr. Higgins-Desbiolles introduced a conceptual typology for distinguishing between appreciation and appropriation. She defined appreciation as the act of recognizing and valuing another culture’s attributes and knowledge. In stark contrast, she outlined appropriation as the taking of intellectual property, cultural expressions, or ways of knowledge from a culture that is not one’s own. She emphasized that in settler-colonial contexts, this appropriation is often underpinned by a persistent sense of entitlement to Indigenous knowledge and resources. Therefore, Dr. Higgins-Desbiolles proposed a model of “decolonising allyship” as an ethical alternative, which requires dismantling settler privilege, refusing extractive practices, and actively supporting Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. This approach moves beyond symbolic gestures to demand tangible commitments.
The presentation concluded by outlining pathways for ethical engagement, including respecting Indigenous wisdoms, truth-telling about colonial histories, and supporting Indigenous-led projects. The subsequent discussion, moderated by Wildan Namora Ichsan Setiawan, explored practical challenges in implementing this decolonial approach, emphasizing the urgent need to align regenerative tourism with justice for Indigenous peoples.
