Divinity and unsettling tourism memories

In this article, we examine intersections of tourism, settler colonialism, and Christianity through a collaborative, unsettling approach. Framed by settler colonial theory and postcolonial theology, and drawing on collective memory work involving Settler-Christian graduate students in Canada, we illuminate how religious travel experiences are constructed in relation to settler colonialism. More specifically, our article interrogates Settler-Christian travel memories to reveal a discourse of divinity structured by contested meanings of service, land, evangelism, and material religiosity. In foregrounding memory as method and site of inquiry, we critically analyze religious tourism as a space for unsettling Settler identity, negotiating responsibilities, and reflecting on theological complicities. The participatory methodology encourages critical self-location and co-creation of knowledge, highlighting the transformative potential of collaborative research in confronting settler colonialism within faith-based leisure travel. The research extends critical tourism scholarship by illuminating ethical and spiritually situated responsibilities that Settler-Christians grapple with to envision decolonial futures.