Mobile Narratives

Travel, Migration, and Transculturation

Eleftheria Arapoglou, Mónika Fodor, Jopi Nyman, Eleftheria Arapoglou, Mónika Fodor, Jopi Nyman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135052331
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Emphasizing the role of travel and migration in the performance and transformation of identity, this volume addresses representations of travel, mobility, and migration in 19th–21st-century travel writing, literature, and media texts. In so doing, the book analyses the role of the various cultural, ethnic, gender, and national encounters pertinent to narratives of travel and migration in transforming and problematizing the identities of both the travelers and "travelees" enacting in the borderzones between cultures. While the individual essays by scholars from a wide range of countries deal with a variety of case studies from various historical, spatial, and cultural locations, they share a strong central interest in the ways in which the narratives of travel contribute to the imagining of ethnic encounters and how they have acted as sites of transformation and transculturation from the early nineteenth century to the present day. In addition to discussing textual representations of travel and migration, the volume also addresses the ways in which cultural texts themselves travel and are reconstructed in various cultural settings. The analyses are particularly attentive to the issues of globalization and migration, which provide a general frame for interpretation. What distinguishes the volume from existing books is its concern with travel and migration as ways of forging transcultural identities that are able to subvert existing categorizations and binary models of identity formation. In so doing, it pays particular attention to the performance of identity in various spaces of cultural encounter, ranging from North America to the East of Europe, putting particular emphasis on the representation of intercultural and ethnic encounters.

Part I

Travels In/Out

1 Tourism, Sustainable Development, and Ethnic Identity

A Critique

Richard Sharpley

Introduction

Over the last half century, the growth and development of tourism has been undeniably remarkable. In 1950, total international tourist arrivals amounted to just over twenty-five million. By 2010 that figure had risen to almost 935 million (UNWTO 2011) and, despite the challenges still facing the global economy, recent data point to continuing growth. At the same time, domestic tourism activity (that is, people visiting destinations within their own country) is estimated to be some six to ten times higher than international tourism. Thus, contemporary tourism is manifested in the movement, both within and across national borders, of enormous numbers of people, to the extent that even some twenty years ago it was described as “the single largest peaceful movement of people across cultural boundaries in the history of the world” (Lett 277).

As dramatic as these figures are, however, the true significance of tourism lies not in the overall volume of tourist activity but in the economic and social implications of that activity. On the one hand, tourism is frequently described as an economic phenomenon. It is one of the world’s largest economic sectors, with annual direct and indirect expenditure and investment totalling around US$7 trillion, or 9.1% of global GDP. It is also a major source of employment, currently accounting for 258 million jobs, or approximately 9% of global employment (WTTC 2011). Consequently, tourism has long been considered an effective means of achieving regional or national socio-economic development.

However, the rapid growth and global spread of tourism has not been universally welcomed. In the late 1960s, and in response to the perceived problems associated with its growth, commentators were already calling for restraint in the development of tourism (Mishan; Young) and, by the 1990s, no topic concerned tourism academics, pressure groups, journalists, and certain sectors of the tourism industry more than the “impacts of tourism.” Criticism of tourism’s consequences ranged from theoretically rigorous research to apocalyptic journalism. According to Jonathan Croall,

[a] spectre is haunting our planet: the spectre of tourism. It’s said that travel broadens the mind. Today, in its modern guise of tourism, it can also ruin landscapes, destroy communities, pollute air and water, trivialise cultures, bring about uniformity, and generally contribute to the continuing degradation of life on our planet. (1)

More recent (and more considered) analyses continue to highlight the potential negative consequences of tourism development (for example, Hickman). Nevertheless, tourism continues to be widely utilized as a vehicle of development and regeneration and, for many destinations, the solution to the inevitable “tourism development dilemma” (Telfer and Sharpley)—that is, the challenge of achieving a balance between the potential developmental contribution of tourism and its negative consequences—is considered to lie within the principles of the contested concept of sustainable tourism development (Sharpley, Tourism, Development).

On the other hand, tourism is also a social phenomenon. It is manifested in the complex relationships between different societies and cultures that result from the interaction of tourists and host communities, relationships that are commonly considered to be unequal and that, hence, lead to a variety of negative socio-cultural consequences for local people. Significant academic attention has also been paid to these socio-cultural impacts of tourism, usefully reviewed by Wall and Mathieson. Nevertheless, it has also long been suggested that, as a social activity that brings together different societies and cultures, tourism potentially fosters greater international harmony and understanding (Var et al.), acting as “a vital force for world peace” (WTO; also D’Amore).

The extent to which this is manifested in practice remains debatable, a number of early studies having concluded that tourism is more likely to reinforce stereotypical images between peoples of different nations (Ap and Var; Milman et al.). More recently, however, the adoption of sustainable tourism, following as it does the principles of sustainable development more generally, has emphasized social sustainability, one of three elements that comprise the triple-bottom-line of sustainable development, as an explicit objective of tourism development. Although the notion of social sustainability is at best ambiguous and at worst meaningless—as Mundt observes, “many people just believe ‘social sustainability’ to be important [ … ] without being able to actually articulate its meaning”—the principles of sustainable tourism typically include objectives such as maintaining or strengthening local culture, or contributing to meeting the needs and aspirations of local communities (86; emphasis original). Collectively, these may be thought of as the development of destination communities’ culture, identity, and social well-being, or, more succinctly, the enhancement of their ethnicity or ethnic identity.

The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to draw together the notions of tourism as both an economic and social phenomenon by exploring whether sustainable tourism may impact positively on destination communities’ sense of ethnic identity. In other words, it has long been recognized that “ethnicity is both mutable and negotiable through social interaction between tourists and the people who live and work in tourist destinations” (Hitchcock, “Tourism” 18); what remains questionable is the extent to which contemporary approaches to tourism development promote ethnic identity among destination communities. Therefore, this chapter considers the potential effectiveness of sustainable tourism development as a catalyst of ethnic identity, focusing in particular on the critical role of governance in the tourism developmental process. First, however, it reviews briefly the study of tourism and ethnicity as a framework for the subsequent discussion of the role of tourism in ethnic identity formation.

Tourism and Ethnicity: A Brief Overview

The relationship between tourism and ethnicity, or what Robert Wood refers to as “touristic ethnicity,” has long benefitted from academic scrutiny. More than thirty years ago, van den Berghe was one of the first to consider the subject; since then, numerous studies have addressed tourism and ethnicity both generally (for example, Jamison) and in specific contexts, such as cultural commodification (Cole; Shepherd) or entrepreneur-ship (Hitchcock, “Ethnicity”).

Fundamental to touristic ethnicity is recognition of tourism as a form of ethnic relations (van den Berghe), principally a dyadic relationship between tourists and local people in destination areas—so-called “host-guest” encounters (Smith)—but also a triadic relationship involving intermediaries, or those in the tourism sector such as tour operators or accommodation providers who bring tourists and local people together. Typically, attention is paid to the status and role of these key players and the consequential form or nature of the relationship between them. A presence in all touristic relations is, of course, the tourist, who comes into contact with, or as John Urry famously puts it, “gazes upon,” other people, including other tourists, members of the local destination community, and, perhaps most frequently, those providing the tourist with goods, services, and experiences. These people who are the “object of the tourist’s interest” (Wood 219), either through purposeful commercial transactions, through chance encounters, or, in the case of “ethnic tourism” (King), through being gazed upon from afar, are often referred to as “tourees” (van den Berghe). In all instances, however, the ethnicity of the “touree” becomes an attraction; their ethnicity becomes a commodity, with significant implications for the manner in which local communities view themselves and their ethnicity within the tourist-host relationship.

It has been observed that this tourist-touree relationship is almost infinitely variable in its form (Pearce). Tourists vary enormously with respect to their cultural background, their motivations, expectations, and behavior; similarly, the economic and socio-cultural context of destination communities may differ significantly from one place or community to another. As a consequence, it would be logical to suggest that such relationships do not adhere to any common form or pattern. Nevertheless, it is possible to make some general observations. For example, the greater the economic, cultural, and social difference between the tourist and the touree, the greater is the likelihood of an unbalanced, unequal relationship. As a consequence, the ability of the touree to maintain or assert his or her ethnic identity may be compromised. At the same time, in most encounters the tourist is typically on holiday or “at leisure” while the touree is “at work” or, at least, going about day-to-day business, again with implications for the nature of the encounter.

More specifically, within the literature four key characteristics of tourist-touree encounters are typically identified (Sharpley, Tourism, Tourists; Wall and Mathieson). Firstly, contact tends to be fleeting and temporary, denying participants the opportunity to engage in meaningful relations, while spatial and temporal restrictions place further limitations on the encounter. Secondly and consequently, for both parties the encounter may be superficial, with little chance for developing mutual understanding and respect. Thirdly, as suggested above, the tourist and the touree may have differing or competing motives; the desire for meaningful experiences on the part of the tourist may contrast starkly with more pecuniary interests on the part of the touree. And fourthly, tourist-touree encounters are widely considered to be asymmetrical; local people may resent ostentatious displays of wealth or a position of subservience to those at leisure, while tourists may feel at a disadvantage given their lack of local knowledge. In either case, mutual understanding and respect is again unlikely to be an outcome.

Of equal, if not greater, significance in the context of this chapter are ethnic relations between intermediaries in the tourism sector—those within the industry, public sector bodies, policy makers, and so on—and tourists/tourees. It is this group of stakeholders that by and large determines the nature, scale, and direction of tourism development and, hence, the extent to which destination communities may be able to exert their ethnic identity. For tourists, these relations are typically based upon the provision and experience of a particular service: hotel accommodation, transport, a meal. Within the local community, however, those who work in tourism (or, indeed, who are for whatever reason excluded from the industry) may experience what Wood refers to as “ethnic stratification.” Particularly in less developed countries or those with more traditional socio-economic structures, ownership patterns in the local tourism sector tend to reflect the dominance of the elite, while employment structures lead to reinforced ethnic stratification. Of course, such ethnic stratification is not universal, although tourism may still reinforce economic stratification with ethnic outcomes; that is, as a relatively low-paid industry, it is not unusual to find lower-grade positions in hotels, restaurants, and other businesses occupied by foreign workers willing to be paid lower wages than is acceptable to local people.

Conversely, the ethnic relations between tourists and tourees, though typified in the literature as being unequal, based on misunderstanding and ignorance, and, hence impacting negatively on local communities’ well-being and sense of ethnic identity, may have more positive outcomes. In some cases, local culture/ethnicity may be strong enough to withstand the challenge posed by tourism and, indeed, may be reinforced through social interaction with tourists. Similarly, it is suggested that “tourism can also support ethnic cohesion by providing a common threat for which a unified response is required or demanded” (Jamison 946). For example, in Goa, diverse local groups formed an action group to challenge the growth and impact of international tourism while, according to Waldren, in the 1990s ethnic solidarity among Mallorcans emerged as a backlash to the rapid growth of tourism on the island. Interestingly, research has also revealed that, despite the evident commodification of their culture and government-imposed restrictions to maintain their authenticity, local communities in Flores, Indonesia, nevertheless experience a sense of pride, identity, and enhanced political power through their engagement with tourists (Cole). At the same time, one of the most commonly cited socio-cultural benefits of tourism is that not only do the demands of tourists for traditional performances, rituals, and art forms frequently underpin the revitalization and strengthening of ethnicity, but also the production of animate and inanimate art forms for tourist production may result in an emergent culture/ ethnicity (Sharpley, Tourism, Tourists). Moreover, local communities may develop “coping strategies” to protect their ethnicity by producing what Dean MacCannell refers to as “staged authenticity” or by maintaining ethnic rituals and practices out of the sight of tourists.

Thus, as noted earlier, tourism is widely utilized as a vehicle of development and, as such, represents an increasingly common context for encounters between tourists and local people. Certainly, the fact that over seventy countries now attract one million or more international tourist arrivals each year is evidence of the enormous scale on which such encounters occur. The nature and outcome (in terms of ethnic identity) of the social interaction between tourists and tourees is very much determined by the nature and scale of tourism; this, in turn, is largely determined by the manner in which tourism is itself promoted and developed, the role of intermediaries being a key element. In other words, ethnic relations in tourism are mediated by the policies, processes, and management of tourism development. As this chapter now suggests, despite the contemporary focus on sustainable tourism development with its emphasis on social sustainability, as well as the increasing incidence of “responsible” forms of tourism such as ecotourism or community-based tourism, generally the enhancement of ethnic identity remains an unlikely outcome of tourism development.

Tourism, Development, and (Social) Sustainability

The dependence on tourism as an agent of development is not surprising. As an activity that has demonstrated remarkable and consistent growth over the last half century, tourism has come to represent an increasingly valuable source of employment, income, and foreign investment. Consequently, not only has it long been an integral element of many countries’ development policies (Jenkins), but also it has frequently assumed a dominant role in their national economies.

A number of other reasons are also suggested for the popularity of tourism as a catalyst of development. Firstly, for many less developed countries with primary product-based economies, there is often no other choice; that is, they possess neither the natural, technological, nor financial resources to establish other industries. In such cases, however, excessive dependency on tourism with significant levels of imports (reducing the net economic benefits) may be the outcome. Secondly, given that most international tourists originate from wealthier countries/regions, tourism is considered an effective means of redistributing wealth from richer to poorer areas. However, in global terms not only does Europe continue to dominate international tourist arrivals while developing countries collectively attract around one third of tourists and tourist spending, but also the extent of wealth redistribution within destination areas remain questionable. Nevertheless, despite attracting relatively low numbers of tourists, for some countries tourism is a highly significant sector of the local economy. For example, the Maldives attract under half a million visitors a year (relatively low by international standards), yet tourism accounts for around 70% of the total economy.

Thirdly, the development of tourism may create backward linkages throughout the local economy, stimulating businesses to meet the needs of the tourism sector (for example, food production, arts and crafts, transport services). Moreover, tourism itself may diffuse out from the resort area, spreading tourist spending into the hinterland. However, the extent to which such linkages and diffus...