Biography
Bobbie Chew Bigby is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bobbie recently completed her PhD focused on comparative Indigenous tourism, culture and resurgence and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo (Canada). Her past research fellowships and work, including a Fulbright award and Rotary Peace Fellowship, have taken her to Indigenous Australia, Burma, Cambodia, China, India and across US Indian Country for research and community-based work. Bobbie is a recent co-edited/co-author of the edited volumes, “Socialising Tourism: Rethinking Tourism for Social and Ecological Justice” (Routledge, 2022) and “A Local Turn in Tourism: Empowering Communities” (Channel View, 2022). She has also written for community and academic-based journals, including for Cultural Survival Magazine. She is currently working to publish a community-geared book focused on Indian City USA, a key Native American cultural attraction that operated in Anadarko, Oklahoma for many decades.
Research interests
Indigenous-led tourism; resurgence; cultural tourism; toxic tourism; Indigenous and refugee communities
Bobbie is particularly passionate about exploring the ways that tourism can be more than just an economic livelihood for Indigenous and post-conflict communities. She focuses on tourism’s potential for connecting people with traditional culture, Country (lands+waters+all living beings) and community.
Research highlights
Find Bobbie: ORCiD, Google Scholar
Publication highlight: Indigenous-led toxic tours opening pathways for (re)connecting to place, people and all creation, Love of Place Over Lithium: Learning, Connecting, and Valuing Noongar Country