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‘They are Taking Our Culture Away’: Tourism and Culture Commodification in the Garifuna Community of Roatan

Theodossopoulos, Dimitrios, Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth (2004) ‘They are Taking Our Culture Away’: Tourism and Culture Commodification in the Garifuna Community of Roatan. Critique of Anthropology, 24 (2). pp. 135-157. ISSN 0308-275X. E-ISSN 1460-3721. (doi:10.1177/0308275X04042650) (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:52333)

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Abstract

This article is concerned with the efforts of a Garifuna community in Honduras to claim a space in the growing local tourist economy. Its inhabitants maintain that they suffer a form of culture loss because they do not control the commodification of their culture through tourism. By examining the local perspective, we argue that cultural performances could be treated as cultural property and consumed by tourists in a context of mutual exchange as opposed to a hegemonic one. We suggest that every cultural performance entails a state- ment about collective identity and thus the local battle for cultural ownership relates to the politics of self-representation and the position of the community in the wider world. The members of the community we studied articulate their desire to become an attraction, which can fully satisfy the tourist quest for authen- ticity and difference. Only this has to take place on their own terms, to serve their interests and to promote the image they have about themselves and their culture.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0308275X04042650
Uncontrolled keywords: anthropology of tourism ; cultural performance;
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Dimitrios Theodossopoulos
Date Deposited: 23 Nov 2015 23:36 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 10:38 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/52333 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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