What is your tourism Madeleine de Proust?

The Madeleine de Proust theory which is about the power of the subconscious (Bray, 2013), refers to Proust’s experience of recalling his past after tasting a madeleine dipped in tea (Bray, 2013). Indeed, long-buried memories can be brought to the surface after smelling and/or tasting something (Smith, 2016), like a ‘Madeleine’ (a traditional shell-like shape French small sponge cake). In the case of Marcel Proust (French novelist), it is the memory of his childhood that was brought to the surface (Weiner, 1980). This madeleine could be considered as the link between the past and the present (Weiner, 1980), and potentially the future, as there is a continuum between childhood and adulthood (Weiner, 1980), even in terms of tourism consumption (Cullingford, 1995). This study is focusing on the experience adults from the diaspora, whether victim diasporas, trade diasporas, imperial diasporas, labour diasporas, and so forth (Séraphin, 2020), had had during their childhood, as the second generation of the diaspora onward tends to disengage with their parents’ country of origin. Meylon-Reinette (2010) referred to this phenomenon as ‘dediasporisation’. There is a connection between Madeleine de Proust and ‘dediasporisation’ as when Proust tasted the madeleine again, ‘the same feeling occurs. But when he tries a third time, the feeling is diminished’ (Smith, 2016: 38). This study is addressing the dearth of research regarding children in the tourism industry and cognate sectors (Khoo-Lattimore, Prayag, & Cheah, 2015), alongside contributing to existing literature on diaspora (tourism); and connecting tourism with neurosciences. The research question of the study is as follow: What is the tourism Madeleine de Proust of adults from the diaspora?