CULTURE, CAPITAL, AND COMMUNITY CHANGE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM IN SANTIAGO ATITLÁN, GUATEMALA
Open Access
- Author:
- Harbor, Lucy Caroline
- Graduate Program:
- Recreation and Parks
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- October 24, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Carter A Hunt, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Kathryn Jo Brasier, Committee Member
Peter Renton Allison, Committee Member - Keywords:
- tourism
ethnography
Guatemala
Lake Atitlan
community capital
globalization
development - Abstract:
- Coupled with the aesthetic beauty of its highland landscape, the modern indigenous culture of descendants of the ancient Maya is a primary pull factor bringing over 300,000 international and domestic visitors to the Lake Atitlán, Guatemala region each year. Santiago Atitlán, capital of the Tz’utujil people, sits tucked in a narrow bay on the southern side of the lake – a protected enclave wherein its residents have weathered nearly 500 years of occupation and persecution. In an increasingly interconnected global environment, the indigenous residents of Santiago Atitlán today navigate rapid changes and seek to preserve a viable and meaningful way of life. This thesis investigates the role that the development and ongoing production of tourism plays in that negotiation. Across the planet, indigenous communities face numerous threats to their cultural, linguistic, and traditional ecological heritage. Research that determines where and how indigenous peoples are able to better negotiate the accelerating forces of change, including the arrival of international tourism, in ways that support the preservation and perpetuation of increasingly endangered cultural diversity is now timelier than ever. This thesis answers this call, approaching tourism as one of the complex systems that characterize the Anthropocene. In the context of 21st century globalization, the residents of Santiago Atitlán are found to be increasingly enmeshed in processes that are beyond their control, leading to dynamic and diverse outcomes. Here, an ethnographic approach was taken to research the way this indigenous community is accessing the benefits and navigating the impacts of a changing tourism industry. As a potential pathway to achieving cultural, environmental, and economic stability, tourism has also been shown to cause community disruption. Not surprisingly, evidence from Santiago supports both of these outcomes. Tourism is contributing to local socio-cultural change. This corresponds to changes in formal and informal institutions, including widened gaps between groups and generations, increased competition and rivalry, reduced social bonds and norm adherence, and an eroded ability to work together. Yet a unique contribution of this study is the finding that Atitecos also moderate cultural outcomes by confronting changing technological, financial, and environmental conditions in unique and hybridized ways. Community capital and assets are also affected in that they are both influenced by tourism as well as are valuable assets that Atitecos hope to leverage to proactively influence tourism in their town moving forward. The purpose of this research is intellectual merit, through theoretical contributions, as well as broader impact, through practical applications. As one of the first studies to utilize the Community Capitals Framework through the lens of ethnography, and to apply this framework to the study of tourism, this research contributes to the advancement of several bodies of knowledge. Additionally, the use of ethnographic qualitative methods, as well as the pairing of deductive analysis with inductive, thematic analysis are found to be of paramount importance in merging both emic and etic points of view into an accurate representation of community capitals. This thesis provides further support that the Community Capitals Framework can be used translationally to make emically-founded contributions to development planning. When combined with other empirical data and theory, these findings are particularly salient for practical applications such as diagnosing opportunities and most promising areas for investment within the community.