Following the “Hippie Sahibs”: Colonial cultures of travel and the Hippie Trail

Imperial attitudes and colonial cultures persisted long beyond the period of formal colonisation. This article investigates how colonial attitudes were translated into the postcolonial context within the “alternative” subculture of travel and tourism in South and Southeast Asia. It argues that colonial-era attitudes were translated into the culture of “alternative” tourism through the dual conduits of the Oxford-Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition and the Hippie Trail. The genealogy suggested in this article, from imperial exploration, through the translated mid-points of the Expedition and the Hippie Trail to contemporary “alternative” travel, points to the enduring connections between tourism and imperialism.