The Tourism Encounter by Florence Babb

Author:Florence Babb [Babb, Florence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780804771566
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2010-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

III

Tourism and Its Discontents

Gender, Race, and Power in Transitional Societies

5

Sex and Sentiment in Cuban and Nicaraguan Tourism

IN PARTS 1 AND 2 of The Tourism Encounter, I presented individual case studies of tourism in Cuba, Nicaragua, Andean Peru, and Chiapas, Mexico—postrevolutionary and postconflict societies that have embraced tourism as they have undergone political transitions and have undertaken nation-building projects. In Part 3, Chapters 5 and 6 offer comparative perspectives on these nations and regions to illuminate the particular challenges that more marginalized sectors confront in the tourism development process. In this chapter, I bring together discussion of Cuba and Nicaragua as each has experienced gendered and racialized consequences as a result of its growing dependence on tourism. In the next chapter, I turn to Andean Peru and Chiapas in order to reveal how indigenous women are positioned as either highly vulnerable or as well suited for success (and sometimes both) as they command specific forms of cultural capital in the tourism market. In the Conclusion, I draw further comparisons among these four nations in an effort to sort through the ambivalent and contradictory forces of global tourism in the lives of various actors discussed in this work.

Travel Snapshots

HAVANA, CUBA. When I arrived in Havana's airport in December 2003, just before tighter restrictions were imposed by the United States on travel to Cuba, I was swept along with others going through customs. As our movement slowed and we formed lines, I noticed a large-screen TV showing Cuban women dancing provocatively in skin-tight clothing. The images were distinctly sexualized, but it was unclear to me if they were intended to be a welcoming diversion, cultural heritage on display, or even perhaps an advertisement for beer. In a country that has expressed official concern over rising sex tourism and that prohibits advertising, this seemed to present a curious contradiction, albeit one of many encountered on a daily basis by travelers in Cuba. What struck me, however, was that among the many attractions this Caribbean island offers, this one was put on prominent view for visitors entering the country1

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA. Similarly, when I arrived in Managua's airport on a visit to Nicaragua in summer 2004, I discovered a desk with smiling hosts greeting tourists, answering questions, and offering free travel literature. A glossy magazine entitled Between the Waves attracted attention through the use of a cover photograph of a young woman wearing a bikini and perched suggestively on a boat. The magazine's business manager later told me that the advertisers wanted every issue to have such a cover photo of a tanned Central American beauty, since “sex sells” (Reinhard Holzinger, personal communication). Between the Waves is given away free at the airport and in a number of hotels and restaurants catering to tourists in Nicaragua, and advertisers are clearly banking on the cover images enticing potential consumers of their goods and services.

Intimate Encounters in Transitional Societies

In my ethnographic research in Cuba and Nicaragua, I have found that the tourism industries in these nations often mimic

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.