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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Looking for the 'Other': Tourism, Power, and Identity in Zanzibar
Author:Sumich, JasonISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:Anthropology Southern Africa
Volume:25
Issue:1-2
Pages:39-45
Language:English
Geographic term:Zanzibar
Subjects:images
tourism
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
Labor and Employment
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:This paper examines the interconnected processes of tourism, power and identity in Zanzibar. It argues that tourism in Zanzibar is not only characterized by neocolonialism, but also accompanied and justified by cultural imperialism. Focusing on the tourist industry's underclass, locally known as 'papasi' (beach boys), and younger, poorer tourists known as 'backpackers', the study examines the social taxonomies used by both tourists and beach boys to define and distance the 'other'. While beach boys classify tourists by gender and social class, the Zanzibari hosts are in turn classified by tourists in terms of how well they fit the colonial ideal of a rural 'tribesman'. Contrary to the belief that tourism creates cross-cultural understanding, a far more common occurrence is that tourism reinforces and solidifies stereotypes, which are used by tourists to justify the dramatic imbalances in wealth between the hosts and the guests. As well as being a tool of oppression, the language of cultural imperialism is reformed by beach boys to create a vocabulary of resistance. The study is based on research carried out in Stone Town, the historic section of the capital, Zanzibar City, in 2000. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]
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