Travel helps us explore new cultures and old histories. But what about when the stories you hear come from just one perspective? That’s where ‘alternative tours’ come in. JoAnna Haugen recalls her first plantation tour and why seeking both sides of a story is essential if we’re to better understand the places we visit.
Summer vacations during my childhood were spent road-tripping throughout the United States, but it wasn’t until recently that I finally spent time in Tennessee and Georgia. This specific part of the country is known for a history steeped in slavery, and I was eager to take a plantation tour that didn’t whitewash the violence and glorify the property owners embedded in this history.
I decided to visit Belle Meade in Nashville, Tennessee, which offers the one-hour Journey to Jubilee Tour. As noted on Belle Meade’s website, “Journey to Jubilee explores the stories of the African-Americans who were brought to, and born at, Belle Meade from 1807 through the years following Emancipation.”
Though it’s not the property’s most popular tour—that honor goes to the Mansion Tour, which focuses on the family and their privileged life—the Journey to Jubilee Tour is an honest, unfiltered presentation of plantation life. It is a refreshing alternative to an all-too-common narrative.
When I travel, I seek out opportunities that don’t shy away from the ugly parts of humanity. At Belle Meade, I wanted to learn, challenge my belief system, and avoid the sanitized narrative that so often accompanies the grandiose plantation landscape.
Tours that offer this kind of experience—rejecting the dominant and comfortable narrative about a place and embracing the controversial, misunderstood, oppressed, or silenced story instead—are what I refer to as “alternative” tours. Broadly speaking, these tours highlight a spectrum of unheard voices and stories ranging from homelessness and migration to Indigenous knowledge and LGBTQI+ experiences. They often cover an ‘alternative’ story or history that’s not been told, which can include decolonized tours, Indigenous-led tours, community-based tourism tours and others. In Santo Domingo, for example, Ruth Pion’s AfroHistoria RD initiative has created a decolonial tour of the Colonial Zone of the Dominican Republic capital, while those with a lived experience of being homeless take tourists on unique walking tours of London with Unseen Tours.
These are not the stories commonly associated with tourism, yet they crack open destinations to reveal their textured, nuanced complexity. They reveal place-based details that offer insight into why places are the way they are: What the meaning is behind local features and festivities, what daily life is like for different segments of the population, why certain neighborhoods are gentrified.
And, luckily—finally—for people seeking out these diverse perspectives when they travel, an increasing number of alternative tours are being offered in destinations and at sites around the world. But, being mindful that these aren’t your typical tours scrubbed of controversy, signing up for one requires a shift in mindset in order for the experience to truly be impactful.
Companies with alternative tours know they’re offering something unusual: Stories people haven’t heard before that will make some folks feel uncomfortable. They also want travelers to respect these stories and the guides sharing them, so they tend to be very clear about what the experience entails. Read all the information available so you know what you’re signing up for.
The web page to book the Journey to Jubilee Tour, for example, explicitly states: “Our goal for this tour is that adults speak freely and honestly about the violent reality of slavery.” This message was reinforced right away by our guide, who clearly noted the purpose of the tour—as well as what it was not. He suggested that anyone wanting to learn about the owners’ social life and home furnishings was welcome to join the Mansion Tour, which departed at the same time.
Alternative tours are alternative for a reason: The stories they amplify have been pushed into the dark corners of society in general and tourism, specifically for a long time.
Further, this tour was restricted to teens and adults, though families with children are encouraged to sign up for a program called Stories for Slavery and Freedom. If you’re traveling with kids, get clarification about the content, and follow any guidelines restricting access to certain people.
Alternative tours are alternative for a reason: The stories they amplify have been pushed into the dark corners of society in general and tourism, specifically for a long time. As such, it’s important to understand how they differ from the dominant narrative and why they are important.
The guide at Belle Meade explained the difference between the Journey to Jubilee Tour and the Mansion Tour. He also emphasized the importance of staying on track with the alternative tour’s narrative so it wasn’t derailed back toward the whitewashed narrative shared on other tours.
The same is true for any alternative tour. They expose often-oppressed narratives that are finally given space, so give them that space. If you’re interested in learning about a different aspect of a place, hold onto those off-topic questions for another time.
A lot of the information that surfaces during alternative tours is new information for guests: It challenges their preconceived notions, causes discomfort, and likely brings questions and thoughts to mind they’ve never had a chance to consider before. These are all relevant reactions, and on most tours, people are encouraged to explore them.
While many tours focused on the dominant narrative tend to be a one-way regurgitation of facts, alternative tours may end up being more of a dialogue. Take advantage of this. It’s your chance to learn, but do so respectfully. Be an active listener and stay on topic.
Importantly, remember that these stories and storytellers have largely been silenced or misrepresented. This is not the place for talking over others or engaging in whataboutism.
An alternative tour isn’t the end-all-be-all solution for addressing the pervasive, systemic problems caused by the actions and words reinforced by the dominant culture. One of the reasons to sign up and pay for these experiences is that they usually provide much-needed financial support to impacted people. Many social impact tour companies pay, train, and provide support to the marginalized communities they amplify through alternative tours, and that’s a great example of how these experiences can have long-term, meaningful ripple effects.
In addition to asking about what your fee funds, use this experience as a stepping stone. Ask your guide if there are other places in the destination you should visit for additional context. Also, ask for book and documentary recommendations for ongoing learning. After all, a place’s dominant narrative is just that because it receives lots of attention. It’s time for a new story to shine.
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JoAnna Haugen is an award-winning writer, speaker, consultant, and solutions advocate. She is also the founder of Rooted, a solutions platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact, and storytelling.
