ABSTRACT
Globalisation is often perceived as a threat to the preservation of traditional cultures. There are various approaches to understanding the impact of globalisation on culture. Pieterse’s three paradigms of globalisation and culture, clash of civilisations, McDonaldisation and hybridisation, provide a useful theoretical foundation for understanding how tourism impacts culture. The three paradigms of globalisation assess cultural change holistically. Cultural change in Pacific Island countries (PIC) due to globalisation, especially tourism’s role, in this change, is the focus. Data are sourced via interviews with various tourism stakeholders from Fiji, Tonga and Cook Islands. Tourism is only one driver of cultural change. Other forces include mobilities, migration, diaspora, geopolitical change, technology and popular culture. Examples of the clash of civilisations paradigm include geopolitical changes resulting in different tourism markets and the imitation effect from diaspora and tourists. Commodification of cultural performance for both tourist and local consumption and use of popular culture, for example the animated film Moana, are viewed as McDonaldisation of culture. Participants’ reflections on ongoing evolution of culture including the integration of PIC into the world economy, through increased mobilities and technologies, exemplify hybridisation. In general, the three PIC are found to be culturally resilient. Culture of these PIC is resilient with Pacific Islanders maintaining agency over change, however the impact of various globalisation factors demand effort in preserving culture in the long term.
摘要
全球化经常被认为是对传统文化保护的威胁。有多种方法可以理解全球化对文化的影响。皮特斯（Pieterse）1996年提出了三种全球化影响文化的范式：文明的冲突, 文化的麦当劳化和混杂, 为理解旅游如何影响文化提供了一个有用的理论基础。本文运用全球化的三种范式从整体上评估文化变迁。全球化对太平洋岛国的文化变迁的影响, 尤其旅游业对文化变迁的影响, 是本文关注的焦点。本文数据来源于对斐济、汤加和库克群岛旅游利益相关者的采访。旅游业只是文化变迁的一种动力。其他力量包括人口流动、移民、散居、地缘政治变迁、科技和流行文化。文明冲突范式的例子包括影响不同旅游市场的地缘政治变化, 以及侨居和游客的模仿效应。为游客和当地消费者提供的商业化的文化表演和流行文化, 例如动画片《海洋奇缘》, 被视为文化的麦当劳化。参与者反思文化的持续演变, 包括通过日益增加移民和技术将太平洋岛国融入世界经济, 这些是文化杂交的例证。总的来说, 发现这三个太平洋岛国具有文化方面的韧性。这些太平洋岛国的文化如太平洋岛国民对文化变化的维护机构一样是有韧性的, 但是各种全球化因素的影响需要长期努力来保护文化。
Introduction
Culture plays a major role in and for tourism. Culture serves as a major attraction and thus has the ability to preserve or revive cultural practices (McKercher, 2002). However, the adverse effects of tourism on culture, through cultural appropriation and commodification, have been extensively discussed in tourism literature (Root, 2018; Shepherd, 2002). Culture is important for Pacific Island countries (PIC). The unique PIC cultures attract tourists, while tourism impacts their culture. Tourism is also one of the few economic options for many PIC, thus, although there are possible negative cultural impacts of tourism, PIC in many cases need to sustain visitation (Cave, Ryan, & Panakera, 2003). While there are some aspects of culture that are common across national boundaries, many customs and traditions are unique to a particular island state, geographical area or even tribe due to a variety of geographical, historical and social factors. These unique cultures are under external pressure due to a variety of globalisation forces that include, but are not limited to, migration, popular culture, technological advancement and tourism (Crocombe, 2001). As visitor arrival numbers grow across many PIC, tourism becomes more geographically widespread and mature, with new destinations now existing in the region (Cheer et al., 2018). Therefore, it is timely to reassess the socio-cultural impacts of tourism along with other forces of globalisation on PIC.
Culture is defined as ‘behaviour and beliefs that are learned and shared: learned so that it is not “instinctual,” shared so that it is not individual’ (Pieterse, 1995, p. 1390). This definition emphasises the social sharing aspect, but it is not limited by any geographic borders; just a shared common experience. Culture refers as much to behaviour and beliefs held in common as those which are different. The definition of globalisation is much more contested. There is general agreement that globalisation is shaped by technological change, involves the reconfiguration of nation states, accompanies regionalisation and is uneven. There is less consensus about whether globalisation is purely an economic occurrence or multidimensional, whether it is a modern phenomenon or a long-term historical process, whether it is a result of neoliberal capitalism or a much broader social phenomenon, whether it exists or is merely rhetoric? (Pieterse, 2015, p. 8). As this study concerns culture, globalisation is defined from a cultural perspective as ‘a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people are increasingly aware that they are receding’ (Waters, 1995, p. 3).
A lot has been written on tourism and globalisation (e.g. Mowforth & Munt, 2015; Wahab & Cooper, 2005) as well as tourism’s impact on culture and the host culture’s impact on tourism and tourists (Canavan, 2016; Macleod & Carrier, 2009). The main objective of this paper is to examine cultural change in PIC due to globalisation, with a focus on tourism’s role as one of the contributors to this change. The context of PIC is appropriate for exploration into tourism’s impact on cultural change as the South Pacific is home to diverse cultures, while tourism forms one of the major economic activities for many PIC (Harrison & Pratt, 2013). Different from previous research, various impacts of globalisation on culture and tourism’s role in it are discussed using Pieterse’s (1996) three paradigms of globalisation, namely clash of civilisations, McDonaldisation and hybridisation. The application of the three paradigms contributes to a more holistic understanding of the complexity of relationships between culture and tourism. The paradigms are based on two contrasting worldviews: modern and postmodern, which allow the discussion of structural issues as well as dynamic cultural changes in the PICs.
The next section briefly outlines Pieterse’s (1996) three paradigms of globalisation, clash of civilisations, McDonaldisation and hybridisation, and describes how these paradigms apply to tourism in general. The subsequent methodology section explains the research approach and data collection methods after which the findings section ‘Globalisation, tourism and culture of PIC’ demonstrates specific examples from PIC of how globalisation through tourism has impacted local culture. The penultimate section, the discussion section, locates the findings from this research back into the wider b...
