Racial hierarchies and contradictory moral regimes in lifestyle destinations: Older, Western residents in Ubud, Bali

Abstract

This article examines how older, Western residents make sense of racial and economic hierarchies in the context of relations with Balinese employees and a modern service infrastructure of cafes and restaurants in Ubud, Bali. I examine how these residents engage with contradictory moral regimes that reflect a desire to downplay white privilege, yet place the self at the forefront of narratives of life and lifestyle in Bali. The spatial management of such concerns, I argue, is complicated by a desire to impose fixity on socio-cultural process, in ways that bring symbolic pollution beliefs to the fore in this lifestyle destination.