Overseas Project Experience: Applied Social Sciences in Globalised Asia

For tourists all over the world, the island of Bali in Indonesia is a “tropical paradise” and one of the world’s great romantic destinations. Western popular culture depictions such as the 2010 Hollywood blockbuster Eat, Pray, Love idealise the island as a spiritual refuge for those who are weary of the challenges of high-paced modern life. These romanticised images of Bali have turned it to a major tourist destination with over 5.5 million tourists visiting the island each year. As a result, over the last three decades, the tourism and hospitality industry has overtaken agriculture and fishery as Bali’s number one source of income. 

However, the economic success brought about by tourism has come at a high price. Overdevelopment has resulted in environmental degradation and disruption to the local ecology and complex systems of irrigation. Furthermore, keen to be part of the lucrative tourism industry, younger Balinese leave their villages in order to get jobs at tourism centres in the southern coastal areas of the island. As a result, Bali’s capital city of Denpasar has been experiencing high levels of urbanisation and over-crowding, and traditional occupations such as farming and fishing are at risk of dying out.

Looking at the case study of Bali and in collaboration with the Earth Company, a Bali-based social enterprise aimed at supporting local sustainable tourism initiatives, this overseas project experience is designed to provide students with a deep understanding of the social, cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of mass-tourism in Bali. Students are then asked to help the Earth Company solve the real-life issue of how they may raise awareness towards sustainable tourism among travellers from Singapore and beyond. Interdisciplinary in nature, the course is both conceptual and experiential: it involves four seminars at SMU during Term 2, AY 2022/2023, and a ten-day study mission in Bali, Indonesia. The study mission is planned for 1-11 May 2023 (after the T2 exam period).