99 IDENTITY TOURISM AND COMMERCIAL NATIONALISM – Contributions by Leanne White
Introduction
Having retired from academia recently, I now go by the title of ‘independent researcher’. I worked at Victoria University from 2004 until 2020. Prior to that, I worked at Monash University. I taught at universities in Australia for approximately 35 years. I have taught undergraduate and postgraduate students at local and overseas campuses, coordinated undergraduate and postgraduate programs, supervised doctoral and other postgraduate research students, published extensively in books and journals, delivered expert commentary, presented at national and international conferences, and developed extensive research and teaching networks locally, nationally and internationally. I would like to thank the editors of this important book for inviting me to be a part of it.
Background
I was born and bred in the inner Western suburbs of Melbourne. Almost all of my education has taken place in Melbourne’s West. I attended Ascot Vale West Primary School, Flemington High School, Footscray Institute of Technology then later Victoria University of Technology (both of which eventually became Victoria University). I was awarded the best final year Arts student along with the inaugural student of the year award at Footscray Institute in 1985. My first experience of teaching at university level occurred when I was just 24 years of age. I am certainly a product of Victoria University through and through. My late father (Ron White) and I were heavily involved in the Centenary Celebrations in 2016 as Dad had taught at Footscray Technical College in the 1940s. The university were keen to launch the Centenary with an intergenerational father/daughter type of success story (refer Figure 1).
Growing up in Melbourne’s western suburbs has enabled me to fully understand and appreciate the significant hurdles and difficulties faced by disadvantaged students. It hightened my understanding of the imbalance that exists for many, in terms of cultural capital and opportunities in life. Over the years, I have had significant experience in working with staff and students whose first language was not English. While it is difficult to quantify the exact level of this experience, I would hazard a guess that almost half of the students I have taught over the years might fall into this category. I believe that attending primary and secondary schools with significant multicultural diversity helped me to empathise with people from all walks of life and make a genuine connection. I have also taught university students in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore when undertaking offshore teaching for Monash University and Victoria University.
When the time came to undertake higher education, I chose to the nearby Footscray Institute of Technology. I completed a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction majoring in Australian Cultural Studies, Politics and Literature. My first significant research thesis was undertaken in when I was a final year Arts student. The thesis was entitled, ‘The Selling of Australia’ and it examined Australian nationalism in advertising. This research topic is one that I have refined, developed and made my own since that time.
Following my undergraduate degree, I completed a Graduate Diploma in Education at La Trobe University. Following that, I completed a Bachelor Education on a part-time basis while teaching and working in public relations. While undertaking the Bachelor of Education, I wrote ‘The Man from Snowy River: A Structuralist and Semiotic Analysis’. The research thesis examined the structural relationships between the popular poem, film and novel. I adapted this work and later updated it for a Tourism Review International journal article (White, 2009). While at La Trobe, I submitted another major research thesis entitled ‘Sale of the Century: A Success Story’. The thesis was a close textual analysis of the long-running Australian television quiz show.
With these teaching qualifications under my belt, I came back to Victoria University of Technology (as it was known at the time) and completed a Master of Arts research thesis on a part-time basis while working as a university lecturer on a sessional basis. For the Master of Arts studies, Professor John Sinclair was my sole thesis supervisor. The thesis was entitled ‘Commercial Nationalism: Images of Australia in Television Advertising’ and closely examined more than 100 television advertisements which were aired during Australia’s Bicentennial year of 1988. This research was described by Professor John McLaren in his book Not in Tranquility: A Memoir as “pioneering work on the images of Australia in television advertising” (McLaren, 2005: 229). Some of the work from this thesis was later published as a chapter in a book about how national days are celebrated around the world (White, 2004).
Like many academics and researchers, my most significant piece of writing was my doctoral thesis. The thesis – ‘Official and Commercial Nationalism: Images of Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’ – examined Australia’s national identity. The thesis explored national imagery presented at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. It examined how images of Australia and Australians, along with the concept of Australianness were marketed by various people involved in staging the global event. Meanings conveyed in the presentation of Australian signifiers were explored through examining the discourses of official nationalism and commercial nationalism.
The thesis examined similarities and differences that exist between the official discourse on nationalism (principally generated from the federal government or government departments via public events and advertising campaigns) and commercial nationalism – the brand of nationalism generated by private organisations or the adoption of national signifiers in the marketplace. Understanding the complex relationships and interconnections between these two discourses of nationalism further developed earlier studies which identified commercial nationalism as a subject worthy of analysis. My thesis both applied and refined the concepts of official nationalism and commercial nationalism with reference to the presentation of Australian images generated prior to and during the decidedly significant event that was the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Some of the comments made by one examiner included: “This is a well-structured and original thesis and examines Australian identity and representation from a fresh perspective” and “This is a well-written thesis supported by an appropriate literature review and an effective analysis of the previous research on the subject. The great strength of this innovative thesis is that it points to the value of comparative study of major celebratory events – including both Opening and Closing Ceremonies – on the evolution of imaging and branding in Australia”. Some of the comments made by the second examiner were: “I found this to be a well-researched and clearly written thesis that efficiently and effectively balances a large amount of necessarily detailed information with analysis and interpretation” and “Overall, I found this to be a well-conceived PhD thesis topic, well carried out and persuasively argued, constituting a valuable original contribution to knowledge in the field”.
While my doctoral thesis examined national imagery and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, some of my other publications also examined and discussed various national commemorative events such as Australia’s Bicentenary in 1988, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Melbourne Cup Day, Lunar New Year along with events commemorating prominent disasters.
Research Interests and Collaborations
My research interests have extended to a range of topics. They include commercial nationalism, national identity, Australian popular culture, national events, advertising, destination marketing, cultural tourism and dark tourism. However, my long-standing research interest (since the early 1980s) has been focused on destination branding, national identity and commercial nationalism.
I have published around 60 book chapters or journal articles. I have edited or co-edited six books. These publications will be discussed in further detail shortly. My research is enhanced by collaborative work with colleagues in Australia and internationally. These collaborations have included co-authored publications with: Associate Professor Elspeth Frew, Dr Ajay Khatter, Alvin Liau, Professor Brian King, Dr Matt Harvey, Dr Alan Pomering, Professor Philip Stone, Dr Nick Economou, Professor Justin Oakley and Dr Daniel Leung.
Publications
Books
There’s possibly no better enduring legacy of your research output than writing or editing a book. I have always been attracted to the idea that future researchers can walk into a library and borrow a book that I have written, edited or been a part of. In editing these books, I have had the pleasure of working with many colleagues from around the world. I have been able to collaborate with others along with encouraging and mentoring. Being an editor of a book with as many as 30 contributors also requires significant leadership, management, advocacy and diplomatic skills.
I have been the editor or co-editor of six research books. Four of the books are with Routledge, one is with Palgrave Macmillan and one is with Channel View. I edited Commercial Nationalism and Tourism: Selling the National Story (2017) and co-edited The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies (2018), Advertising and Public Memory: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Ghost Signs (2017), Wine and Identity: Branding, Heritage, Terroir (2014), Dark Tourism and Place Identity: Managing and Interpreting Dark Places (2013), and Tourism and National Identities: An International Perspective (2011). My six edited books are shown here (refer Figure 2).
Tourism and National Identities: An International Perspective
My first co-edited book was published by Routledge (Frew and White, 2011). The book contains 17 chapters and explores the multiple ways in which aspects of tourism and national identities intersect, overlap and traverse. Elspeth Frew and I decided to create this volume because the interconnecting area of cultural tourism and national identity had been largely overlooked in the academic literature. This complex relationship between the two domains (and indeed, the multifaceted strategies used to define that relationship) was a subject worthy of considerable analysis. The volume strengthened our connection with national identity and cultural tourism research in the eyes of the international community of scholars.
The book explored the relationship between tourism and national identities and the ways in which cultural tourism, events and celebrations contribute to national identity. By understanding tourist destinations through the lens of national identity, the tourist may develop a deeper appreciation of the destination. Also, tourism marketers and planners might be better equipped to promote and manage the destination – particularly when it comes to the expectations of the potential visitor. The book examined core topics critical to understanding this relationship including tourism branding, stereotyping and national identity; tourism-related representations of national identity; tourism site management; and the relationship to cultural tourism. The volume looked at a range of international tourist sites and events, combines multidisciplinary perspectives and international cases to provide a thorough academic analysis. Written by an international team of leading academics, the book has generated significant interest for students, researchers and academics in tourism and related disciplines such as events, cultural studies and geography. The book and our chapters have been cited approximately 110 times.
Dark Tourism and Place Identity: Managing and Interpreting Dark Places
Two years later, I again collaborated with Frew, on an edited volume about dark tourism (White and Frew, 2013). The book provides a significant study of the motivation; destination management and place interpretation of international contemporary and historic sites associated with death, disaster and atrocity and their association with tourism. The book examined the physical and intangible legacies of historic and contemporary dark tourism sites. It explored the contribution such sites make to place identity. By understanding dark tourist sites through the lens of place identity, the tourist may develop a deeper appreciation of the destination. The volume provides a composite model for discussing place identity and dark tourism that advances current understanding of these two areas.
Understanding dark tourism sites may help planners and destination managers develop a better understanding of the most appropriate way to commemorate sites associated with incidents of accidental or violent death. From a social and cultural perspective, the examination of these sites provides a better understanding of the complex connections between people, events and places, including appropriate interpretation at a sensitive site. The respectful interpretation of these dark tourism sites may help to create a place where visitors can pay their respects to those that have died, and better understand past events within the context of the site and indeed the wider community or nation.
Visits to sites of significance play an important part in place identity (including national identity). This book provides a range of case studies to illustrate various aspects of dark tourism and place identity through the lenses of visitor motivation, destination management and place interpretation. The book served to embed our names as dark tourism researchers and has now been cited more than 200 times. The publication is currently my most cited work.
Wine and Identity: Branding, Heritage, Terroir
For my third edited research book, I collaborated with Matt Harvey and Warwick Frost to edit a volume about wine and identity (Harvey, White and Frost, 2014). The book explored the numerous ways in which wine and identity intersect and overlap. Wine and identity have broad appeal due to the opportunity to become involved in new wine experiences. Individuals might travel to a range of wine destinations and have a variety of experiences reflecting aspects of their identity. When visiting such destinations or experiencing such events, visitors receive messages from the creators of the sites. These sites of significance, presented as aspects of wine heritage, help to shape a common wine identity, or ‘imagined community’ among a diverse population.
The interconnecting areas of wine and identity (with a particular focus on aspects of branding, heritage and terroir) have been largely ignored in the academic literature. The complex relationship between the two domains (and indeed, the multifaceted strategies used to define that relationship) was explored in the book. By understanding wine destinations through the lens of identity (be it local, regional, national or other), the visitor may develop a deeper appreciation of the wine experience. In addition, wine marketers and planners might be better equipped to promote and manage the wine destination – particularly in relation to the expectations of the potential visitor. The book and our chapters have been cited more than 50 times.
Advertising and Public Memory: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Ghost Signs
My fourth book with Routledge was a collaboration with co-editors Stefan Schutt and Sam Roberts on historic advertising signs (Schutt, Roberts and White, 2017). The volume was the first scholarly collection to explore the type of urban ephemera commonly known as ‘ghost signs’ or sometimes ‘fading ads’ or ‘brick ads: the fading remains of painted advertising signage on walls and hoardings. The topic of ghost signs has garnered significant popular interest in recent years across the globe, especially since the advent of social media and mobile devices with cameras, which have allowed thousands of amateur historians and photographers to document and discuss the signs. Reflecting the burgeoning popular appeal of ghost signs, the book investigates the social, cultural and historical dimensions of this interest through a range of perspectives: from that of the historian, social media academic, archivist, heritage practitioner to the signwriter.
Commercial Nationalism and Tourism: Selling the National Story
In the same year, my edited volume with Channel View was released (White, 2017). The aim of the book was to show how particular narratives are woven to tell (and sell) a national story. By deconstructing images of the nation, one can closely examine how national texts create key archival imagery that can promote tourism and events while at the same time helping to shape national identity.
The topic of ‘commercial nationalism’ (the use of national signifiers to sell products or services, and the selling of the national story for purposes such as tourism) is both interdisciplinary and of international importance. The concept engages with a wide range of research areas including tourism, events, hospitality, marketing, history and cultural studies. The complex relationship between commerce and the nation has attracted the interest of scholars in recent years.
The aim of the book was to demystify the ways in which the nation has been imagined by key organisers and organisations and then communicated to millions. The meanings conveyed in the presentation of signifiers of nation were investigated. The edited volume investigates the concept of commercial nationalism as it relates to the presentation of national tourism stories and campaigns, along with key national events. The book explores the relationship between state appropriation of marketing strategies and the commercial use of nationalist discourses.
Many of the chapters in the book take the commercial nationalism discussion to another level. They reinforce the critical intersecting domains of commercial nationalism and tourism and highlight the importance of understanding this connection for researchers, tourists, destination managers and a range of other key stakeholders. The book was an important one for me to edit as it built upon two earlier books discussed above – Tourism and National Identities: An International Perspective and Dark Tourism and Place Identity: Managing and Interpreting Dark Places. The purpose of this book was to narrow the focus of study to commercial nationalism while broaden the discussion of national identity to encompass both tourism and events. The aim was to address the void that exists in the discursive space where commercial nationalism and tourism intersect. When tourists visit a country, they encounter many forms of commerce and nation with occasionally intersect.
Gaining an improved understanding of commercial nationalism is a meaningful pursuit. Integrating such an undertaking with links to national stories, tourism branding and events adds significantly to the innovative nature of the book. The linking of the significant issues of commercial nationalism and tourism had not been investigated before to such a degree. From a social, cultural, political, economic and historical perspective, the book helps us gain a deeper level of appreciation and understanding of the complicated connections across the globe between people, places, products and services.
The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies
My sixth edited book was a co-edited dark tourism collaboration (Stone, Hartmann, Seaton, Sharpley and White, 2018). The book aimed to be the definitive reference text for the study of dark tourism – the contemporary commodification of death within international visitor economies. Shining a light on dark tourism and visitor sites of death or disaster allows us to better understand issues of global tourism mobilities, tourist experiences, the co-creation of touristic meaning, and ‘difficult heritage’ processes and practices.
Adopting multidisciplinary perspectives from international authors, the book comprises 30 chapters in themed sections. Combining ‘real-world’ viewpoints from both industry and the media with conceptual underpinning, the book offers comprehensive and grounded perspectives of ‘heritage that hurts’. The book adopts a progressive and thematic approach, including critical accounts of dark tourism history, dark tourism philosophy and theory, dark tourism in society and culture, dark tourism and heritage landscapes, the ‘dark tourist’ experience and the business of dark tourism. The book has been cited nearly 100 times and is my second most cited work.
Book Chapters
Along with the research legacy of books, I have also been motivated to contribute chapters in books for the same reason. I like the idea that researchers can flick through a book in a library and come across your work. That’s certainly how I came across many writers whose work I admire. Of course, your work needs to be able to be found in the online world as well. I make sure this happens by uploading my publications to sites such as Academia.edu.
One of the joys of writing book chapters is that you come to know and work closely with many like-minded researchers by being part of their book. Sometimes they have also contributed to the books I have edited. Occasionally, there is the great pleasure of meeting these colleagues face to face. Since 1999, I have been the author or sometimes co-author of 42 book chapters. Many of the books I have chapters in are shown here (refer Figure 3).
These book chapters have covered a range of topics including commercial nationalism, destination marketing, festivals and events, tourism and sport (particularly the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games – the topic of my doctoral thesis), tourism and national identity, dark tourism, food and wine tourism, heritage tourism, social media and tourism, hospitality and tourism, along with research methods in tourism. While space precludes expanding on of these chapters, I would like to focus briefly on a small sample.
My chapter entitled ‘Facebook, friends and photos: A snapshot into social networking for generating travel ideas’ (White, 2010) has been cited on 86 occasions so far. More than a decade after the chapter was written, Facebook remains the most popular social networking site in the world. The chapter examines travel photos posted some individuals on the platform.
Digital photography has clearly changed the way we experience (and share) our life experiences (including travel). The Facebook chapter undertook a ‘snapshot’ or glimpse into social aspects of tourism informatics with specific reference to the travel photographs posted on the popular site. The aim of the study was to begin a dialogue about the use of travel photos on this social networking site.
Tourism is experienced in a highly visual manner and there remains a need for further research in this area. The chapter explored how the photographs taken, displayed and recorded on Facebook reinforce the travel experience for the tourist; and furthermore, how these images might influence the travel decisions of those who view the photos. Wider implications resulting from this type of research for the future development of tourism, including associated review sites, were explored.
The study found that images and words projected by Facebook users can play a role in the way a particular destination might be perceived by others. New impressions of a destination may have been gained by those who viewed the photographs. These perceptions will obviously vary depending on whether the viewer of the photograph has also travelled to that destination.
Images communicated via social media play a part in the overall promotional package that can work to either reinforce or revise the travel experiences of the viewer. In the highly democratised world of the Internet, one person’s travel snapshots can very easily become part of another person’s travel plans. As around 350 million photos are currently uploaded each day to this popular social networking site, the significance of one person’s Facebook vacation photos as a form of travel recommendation should not be underestimated.
One of my earlier book chapters was ‘The Bicentenary of Australia: Celebration of a Nation’ (White, 2004). This chapter emerged from research undertaken in my Master of Arts research thesis undertaken in the early 1990s. The chapter explored the ways in which the nation-state decided to celebrate its existence on January 26, 1988. The federal government established the Australian Bicentennial Authority to coordinate events.
The chapter also explored the other times in Australia’s history when similar celebrations took place: 1838 – 50 years since the establishment of a penal colony at Sydney Cover at which the British flag was unfurled; 1888 – a forerunner to the Tall Ships, a Centenary celebration on Sydney Harbour; and 1938 – a Sesquicentenary celebration opposed by the Australia’s Indigenous community. While the event was enjoyable and memorable for many, I concluded that Australia still had a long way to go before resolving many of its (mainly racial) issues. As I write this chapter in 2022, little has changed.
The chapter was the first of many where I explored issues of national identity and commercial nationalism. The National Australia Day Council has referred to the chapter on their website when providing information about Australia’s Bicentenary. The book chapter is also my second most cited after the Facebook one just discussed.
One of my most recent chapters was a contribution a research methods handbook (White, 2018). The chapter examined how semiotics, structuralism and content analysis – key qualitative and quantitative research methodologies – can be applied to research in tourism and hospitality. The strengths and weaknesses of these approaches is explained in the chapter.
Applying methodologies such as semiotics, structuralism and content analysis to a text in tourism research can enable the researcher to place the data contained into mutually exclusive categories. In considerably ‘rich’ texts such as a television advertisement, the total number of shots and the average number of shots per second can prove interesting aspects to code, as it provides useful quantitative information about the advertisement.
Semiotics is a valuable methodology for undertaking a close analysis of a particular text – whether that be a particular shot in a television program, a specific scene, a web site or an advertisement. On the other hand, content analysis can perform analysis over a larger sample and thus detect similarities, differences and possible trends. When semiotics meets content analysis, we can interpret key features of the text and measure the frequency of the specific phenomenon under investigation. I argued that these combined research tools (qualitative and quantitative) could be applied to data as they provide a rich base from which to undertake a close and thorough analysis in the domains of tourism and hospitality.
My husband reads over my work as it is always good to have another pair of eyes check my writing. He is an excellent proofreader and will often pick up on typographic errors and other mistakes that I have overlooked. I also like to include a photo of him in my publications. Here is a photo of the two of us (refer Figure 4).
Journal Articles
In the academic world, you are only as good as your last refereed journal article. If you want to get ahead or get promoted, publishing in high-ranked journals is vital. Peer reviewed journals are places where an academic or researcher must situate their work. As such, I have been the author or co-author of 18 refereed journal articles.
These articles covered a range of topics including commercial nationalism, hospitality and tourism, destination marketing, dark tourism and identity tourism. I would like to focus briefly on a couple of these papers.
My article entitled ‘Cathy Freeman and Australia’s Indigenous Heritage: New Beginning for an Old Nation at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’ (White, 2013), has been cited on 25 occasions. The paper explores the interconnections between Australia’s most significant sporting event, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and Australia’s Indigenous culture and heritage. At this historic moment for the nation, Aboriginal Australian athlete Cathy Freeman came to embody Australia’s possible future. The paper examined representations of heritage and identity at the of the Sydney Games and how these images were played out in wider discussions about the future of the Australian nation state.
The choice of Cathy Freeman was widely considered the ‘right’ choice and served to emphasise the highly considerable indigenous themes throughout the Opening Ceremony. The emphasis on indigenous culture continued during the Games and into the Closing Ceremony in a way that was partly orchestrated and partly developed a life of its own due to the actions of particular individuals. The Sydney Opening Ceremony was a significant moment for many Australians and pointed the way for how the nation might present itself to the international community in the new millennium.
A more recent journal article on my signature topic of commercial nationalism was written about Qantas (White, 2018). An analysis of images of Australia in Qantas television advertising was undertaken in the paper. The phenomenon of commercial nationalism was investigated through a close textual analysis of Qantas advertisements broadcast on television between 1987 and 2017. The advertisements were examined by undertaking a semiotic analysis. The research methodology also combined shot combination analysis and a reading of the visual and acoustic channels of the advertisement.
Some of the frequently used Australian signifiers identified in television advertising of commercial nationalism included: the Australian flag; extensive use of Australian colours – red, white and blue, along with green and gold; the Australian landmass in its many stylised forms; images of various Australian landscapes – particularly rural and outback; Australian landmarks – especially the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Uluru; the friendly but laconic Australian who gives everyone a ‘fair go’; black and white as well as sepia-toned images from the nation’s historic archives such as the Gallipoli landing, cricketer Don Bradman and racehorse Phar Lap; and images depicting Australia’s history of natural devastation as evidenced by bushfires, drought and flood.
In examining key Qantas advertising campaigns, the regular use of commercial nationalism was explored. As an organisation, Qantas has sung loudly to the tune of commercial nationalism in the past. Now that the worst of the global pandemic appears to be behind us, Qantas will surely be heard singing the praises of the nation for the benefit of their cause in the future. It is in their clear commercial interests to do so.
Research Impact
Having published widely, I continue to regularly review journal articles and examine PhD theses. I am now at the stage of my research career where colleagues are approaching me to collaborate with them as my work is becoming more widely known and cited. My research has been cited more than 900 times. I have an h-index of 15 and an i10 index of 19. The work I have done on dark tourism has been cited most frequently. My Academia profile currently has me ranked in the top 1% of total page views. This is a welcoming situation and an indicative measure of my academic esteem. My research has contributed to my own research profile as well as that of the universities that I have worked for.
I have provided expert commentary to a wide range of media outlets (including national newspapers and international radio) for many decades (refer Figure 5). I am aware that universities like to promote their experts and academics to journalists. I believe it is important to comment publicly on issues if the individual has the expertise. This obviously benefits the wider community, the university or institution and the individual staff member.
I first began writing for media outlets and editing magazines and newsletters in 1980. I quickly discovered that newspapers would publish (almost word-for-word) my letters to the editor, articles and essays if they were well-written and topical. Over many decades I have continued to write articles for media outlets and provide expert commentary.
As I have worked in a public relations capacity, I incorporated this rich industry experience into my research and teaching. I have written advertisements, speeches, edited newsletters, organised community meetings and festivals, written media releases and undertaken many other duties in terms of marketing education and government bodies to the wider community. This confluence of experience has been invaluable and continues to influence the way in which I disseminate information today. As a public intellectual and academic citizen, I also know the value of being able to market myself. I have had a long-standing commitment to the importance of ensuring that my teaching and research activities are widely communicated through outlets such as academic journals and books. Equally important is the ability to disseminate information via newspaper articles, expert commentary and other forms of media coverage – including social media. These issues will be taken up further in my letter towards the end of this book.
Written by Leanne White, independent researcher, Australia
Read Leanne’s letter to future generations of tourism researchers
References
Frew, E. & White, L. (eds.) (2011). Tourism and National Identities: An International Perspective. Oxon: Routledge.
Harvey, M. White, L. & Frost, W. (eds.) (2014). Wine and Identity: Branding, Heritage, Terroir. Oxon: Routledge.
McLaren, J. (2005). Not in Tranquility: A Memoir. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, p. 229.
Schutt, S., Roberts, S. & White, L. (eds.) (2017). Advertising and Public Memory: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Ghost Signs. Oxon: Routledge.
Stone, P., Hartmann, R., Seaton, T., Sharpley, R. & White, L. (eds.) (2018). The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
White, L. (2004). The Bicentenary of Australia: Celebration of a Nation. In L. K. Fuller (ed.) National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political and Religious Celebrations around the World. Westport: Praeger, pp 25-39.
White, L. (2009). The Man from Snowy River: Australia’s Bush Legend and Commercial Nationalism, Tourism Review International, 13(2):139-146.
White, L. (2010). Facebook, friends and photos: A snapshot into social networking for generating travel ideas. In N. Sharda (Ed.), Tourism Informatics: Visual Travel Recommender Systems, Social Communities and User Interface Design, pp. 115-129.
White, L. (2013). Cathy Freeman and Australia’s Indigenous Heritage: A New Beginning for an Old Nation at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 19(2):153-170.
White, L. & Frew, E. (eds.) (2013). Dark Tourism and Place Identity: Managing and Interpreting Dark Places. Oxon: Routledge.
White, L. (ed.) (2017). Commercial Nationalism and Tourism: Selling the National Story. Bristol: Channel View.
White, L. (2018). Qantas still calls Australia home: The spirit of Australia and the flying kangaroo, Tourist Studies: An International Journal, 18(3):261-274.
