Community-Based Tourism and the Politics of Development

Daniel Eric Bauer

This article examines the negotiation of community-based tourism development in coastal Ecuador. Based on fieldwork conducted in Manabí province and using local development practices as a case study, this article highlights the political dimensions of development practices by emphasizing the role of identity in the negotiation of community-based tourism development. I focus specifically on the intersection of identity and development while emphasizing the politics of development (the strategic use of politics and frames of understanding by local populations during the process of development). Through an examination of community-based development as it is experienced by local actors, I suggest that development can become a form of political capital that can be used as a mechanism for expanding and maintaining a local political base. [community development, tourism, identity, Ecuador]

The Applied Anthropologist, No. 2, Vol. 29, 2009, pp 98 - 112

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