Multicultural Tourism, Demilitarization, and the Process of Peace Building in Panama

Abstract

R e s u m e nEn este artículo, conecto la negación encubierta de derechos ciudadanos por parte del estado con el desarrollo del turismo con el fin de explicar por qué Panamá presenta la imagen de un estado libre de fuerza policial. Abordo dos conceptos principales: un análisis crítico de la gubernamentalidad en el turismo (Hollinshead 1999(Hollinshead , 2003 y el concepto de turismo como una fuerza "creadora de mundos" (Hollinshead et al. 2009;Merrill 2009;Noy 2011; Reis and Shelton 2011). Aplico estos conceptos al desarrollo del turismo en el Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro con el fin de ilustrar cómo los procesos turísticos de gubernamentalidad y "creación de mundos" impuestos por las autoridades son experimentados por los afro-panameños a nivel local. Un análisis de estos conceptos nos permite comprender la naturaleza de la industria del turismo, con suénfasis en la desmilitarización, pero con una presencia importante de mecanismos que limitan los derechos ciudadanos utilizados para mantener a los grupos menos privilegiados en su posición de subordinación en el contexto del desarrollo turístico y la prosperidad económica. [turismo, gubernamentalidad, diaspora africana, Panama] A b s t r a c tIn this article, I connect covert denial of citizenship rights with tourism development to explain why Panama presents itself as a police-free state. I engage two main concepts: a critical analysis of governmentality in tourism (Hollinshead 1999(Hollinshead , 2003 and the concept of tourism as a "world-making" force (Hollinshead et al. 2009;Merrill 2009;Noy 2011; Reis and Shelton 2011). I apply these concepts to the development of tourism in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro to illustrate how the processes of governmentality and world-making are experienced by Afro-Panamanians at the local level when tourism is imposed from above. An exploration of these concepts assists us in grasping the nature of Panama's tourism industry, with its emphasis on demilitarization, but withThe Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 418-440. ISSN 1935-4932, online ISSN 1935-4940. C 418J o u r n a l o f L a t i n A m e r i c a n a n d C a r i b b e a n A n t h r o p o l o g y

Extraction, entanglements, and (im)materialities: Reflections on the methods and methodologies of natural resource industries fieldwork

“…Such a process is referred to as residential tourism (Mollett fieldnotes, 2011;Thampy, 2013;Van Noorloos, 2013). The Panamanian state promises foreign investors a secure land market and offers assurances to domestic residents that these investments will direct employment and financial benefits their way (Mollett fieldnotes, 2012;Guerr on Montero, 2014). Yet, while many local people desire work in tourism, promises of employment remain largely unfulfilled (Guerr on Montero, 2014;Mollett, 2017).…”

“…The Panamanian state promises foreign investors a secure land market and offers assurances to domestic residents that these investments will direct employment and financial benefits their way (Mollett fieldnotes, 2012;Guerr on Montero, 2014). Yet, while many local people desire work in tourism, promises of employment remain largely unfulfilled (Guerr on Montero, 2014;Mollett, 2017). In Bocas, Ng€ abe and Afro-Antillean discontent and widespread cynicism over the lack of dignified employment and precarious job contracts intensify with mounting land tenure insecurities, growing social inequality, and an atmosphere of everyday challenges to local people's lands, waterways, and cultural practices (Guerrero-Montero, 2015;Thampy, 2013).…”

“…According to both state and private investment representatives, foreign land sales generate a "robust" and "speculative" coastal land market, which bolster the economy through the construction of luxury homes, hotels, and leisure spaces, such as Red Frog Beach Island Resort and Spa (Mollett fieldnotes, 2011). The loss of historical relations to land and customary forms of land control for local Ng€ abe and Afro-Antillean people intensify with the resort's ongoing expansion (Guerr on Montero, 2014;Mollett, 2017;Thampy, 2013).…”

The Power to Plunder: Rethinking Land Grabbing in Latin America

“…On the Atlantic coasts of Honduras and Panama, tourism is a celebrated state pathway to development. Over the past 20 years, former sleepy fishing villages and vast Caribbean coastlines are now in flux (Guerron Montero ; Mollett ; Spaulding ; Velazquez Runk ). The growing “residentialization” of tourism in Central America resonates with what Antonio Aledo () calls the “New Residential Tourism” (NRT).…”

Matters of Patrimony: Anthropological Theory and the Materiality of Replication in Contemporary Latin America

“…Stewardship of monuments and cultural practices has thus done much to underwrite legislation, bureaucratic structures, and forms of knowledge essential to modern nation‐states and transnational programs like UNESCO World Heritage initiatives. Meanwhile, and most recently, growth in leisure tourism and the heritage industry has spurred a proliferation of strategies for promoting patrimony (Babb ; Guerrón ; Hill and Tanaka ; Little ). In much scholarship on heritage, however, living traditions and their reproduction tend to be associated with so‐called intangible patrimonies, or folkloric practices, knowledges, and cultural forms.…”