Almost Paradise: The Cultural Politics of Identity and Tourism in Samaná, Dominican Republic

Abstract

RESUMEN En la República Dominicana, el turismo es la base fundamental del desarrollo económico, transformando no sólo el paisaje social y cultural, sino también los reflejos individuales del yo, de la comunidad y de la nación. En la región noreste de Samaná, donde el turismo ha crecido y se ha establecido como una fuente importante de empleo y de especulación, los esfuerzos para controlar esta industria se han politizado. Este estudio investiga los esfuerzos de una empresa extranjera para controlar los recursos del turismo local, y la consecuente resistencia por parte de grupos locales. Este conflicto, aunque cimentado en los recursos materiales, a menudo se articuló mediante el complejo discurso de la identidad. La cultura política se convirtió en el vehículo principal por el cual se luchó para controlar bienes materiales y simbólicos. Estas disputas descubren un campo cultural en continua transformación, exponiendo la inestabilidad de unas categorías consideradas tiempo atrás como indudables. In the Dominican Republic, tourism is the dominant development strategy transforming not only the social and cultural landscape, but also individual reflections of self, community and nation. In the northeast region of Samaná, as tourism has grown and become an important source of employment and profit, the struggles to control the industry are politicized. This case study examines the attempts of a foreign company to control local tourist assets, and the ensuing struggle on the local level to resist. The conflict, although grounded in material assets, was often articulated through the complex discourse of identity. Cultural politics became a primary vehicle through which the control of material and symbolic assets was fought. These struggles bring to light a changing cultural field, exposing the instability of categories long taken for granted.

Studi Implementasi Kearifan Lokal Pada Pengembangan Fasilitas Wisata, Desa Budo, Kabupaten Minahasa Utara

“…Studi di Samana Republik Dominica menunjukkan dalam 20 tahun terakhir, pariwisata telah merubah lanskap social-budaya masyarakat. (Skoczen, 2008). Selanjut Smith, (2010), dalam studinya perencanaan pengembangan kota kota Malta di dapati bahwa penekanan berlebihan melalui pengembangan pariwisata proyek-proyek nasional telah mempengaruhi kelayakan hidup dan secara paradoks, telah membuat kota kurang menarik bagi wisatawan dan kurang mewakili identitas Malta.…”

Islands of Difference: Design, Urbanism, and Sustainable Tourism in the Anthropocene Caribbean

“…The Caribbean region is dependent on tourism as the mainstay of many national economies (Harrison et al 2003). It not only competes in a global market, but Caribbean countries must also compete with one another for elusive travelers and their money (Skoczen 2008). Promoting, distinguishing among, and perpetually redesigning national tourism products as "islands of difference" has become a regional industry in itself.…”

“…It seems clear that the principles of sustainability are becoming a destination brand and tailored product for targeted, white-collar consumers in the Anthropocene (Jayawardena et al 2008). This product must compete in a varied field with multiple divergent products and brands (Skoczen 2008), and we must not be blind to the particular kind of work branding can do to rearticulate tourism products, the forms of cosmopolitan places, and the international and domestic significance of location design. Our general interest in these events should necessitate examination of the concerns drawn together in these islands of difference: that sustainable tourism is not only about a contradictory and narrow vision of sustainability but also about transnational movements of populations and capital, imaginations of social equity, and objectifications of places, histories, socionatural relations, and cultures.…”

“…In more recent biomedical scholarship, Maurer () has grappled with notions of biogenetic belonging and human nature metaphorically applied to land ownership and citizenship rights in the British Virgin Islands, and Whitmarsh () has examined the creation of Barbados as a naturalized model island for genetic asthma research. In the realm of Caribbean tourism, critiques of mass tourism and ecotourism have theorized island natural environments as highly politicized spaces that obfuscate and amplify the fraught power relations of national tourist industries (Baldwin ; Carrier and Macleod ; Feldman ; Moore ; Skoczen ; Sommer and Carrier ; Strachan ; West and Carrier ). This article begins from the position that rather than existing as an underappreciated theme in Caribbean anthropology, popping up here and there as a subset of other disciplinary concerns, questions of island socionatural relations must become integral to research in and of the region.…”

Questioning Community’s Understanding in Implementing Local Identity in Development of Tourist Facilities:

“…The local identities of the community, which are reflected in the city structures and buildings that characterize the area, have changed. Studies in the Samana Republic of Dominica show that in the last 20 years, tourism has changed the socio-cultural landscape of society [7]. Furthermore, Smith [8] in his study of city development planning for the city of Malta, it was found that excessive emphasis through the development of national tourism projects has affected the viability of life and paradoxically, has made the city less attractive to tourists and less representative of Maltese identity.…”