Table of Contents

 
Revised Table of Contents:
 
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Methodological Considerations
An Anthropologist, a Quaker, and Porn Star Walk Into a Bar: Participant
Observation
Interviews
An Invitation to Insight: Methodological Insights and Considerations of
Objectivity
Metiche Anthropology, “Characters,” and Contributions. Engaged Anthropology
Ethical Considerations and Consent
A Globalized Context for Localized Research
Chapter 3: Community Portraits: Two Beach Towns
Playa del Carmen: A “Locally-Owned” Beach Town
Who Counts as a Local: Costa Rican-Foreigner Interaction and
Perceptions
On Locals and Outsiders: Varied Labels
Expat Experiences
Segregated Spaces
Persistence of Local Culture
Tourism-Related Changes: Cost of Living, Corruption, and Water
Playa Extranjera: A Foreign-Owned Beach Town
Locals: All or Nothing
Changing Populations and Foreign Locals’ Experiences
Drugs, Prostitution, and Development
“Feels Like Home”: Catering to Foreigners
Overdevelopment, Water, and Tico Resistance
 
Chapter 4: Nambué, The Chorotega Reservation: Portrait of a Community on the Cusp of Tourism
Indigeneity in Flux: The Reservation’s History
Changing Indigenous Identities: From Shame to Pride
Tourism as a Motivator for Revitalization of Tradition and Chorotega Customs
Maintained
Witchcraft and Oral Tradition
Globalization and More Recent Concerns
Division and Unity: Community Life in the Reservation
Community Changes
Land Rights, Water, and Community Concerns
 
Chapter 5: Montañosa, The Rainforest Community
“Facets of a Diamond”: Official Histories of Montañosa
Who Counts as a Local: Complex Categories
Quaker Comments on Local Belonging: Language and Community
Tico Perceptions of Quakers
Conservation and Religious Philosophy Enacted
Social Integration
Segregated Spaces
The Effects of Change
Changing Economies: From Farming to Tourism
From Ecotourism to Adventure Tourism and their Respective Clientele
The Commission System and Competition Among Businesses
From Agriculture to Tourism and Back Again
Community Concerns and the Downsides of Tourism: Water Issues, Drugs,
Prostitution
The Larger Context
 
Chapter 6: “The Cows Will Be Your University!”: Positive Effects of Tourism
Changing Gender Roles
“Art Has Been Like a Medicine for Us”
The Jam Revolution: A Second Women’s Cooperative
Dancing While Washing the Clothes
New Challenges for the Cooperative
Positive Effects of Tourism
Jobs and Education, Broadly Defined
Infrastructure
Cross-Cultural Understanding
Conservation
 
Chapter 7: Negative Effects of Tourism
Drug Trade and Abuse
What Happens in Vegas…
Prostitution
Sex Tourism and Romance Tourism: Variations on a Theme?
Muddying the Waters. How “Eco” is Ecotourism?
Additional Concerns
The Trade-Offs of Tourism
 
Chapter 8: Performing Local Life on the Reservation
“Patenting the Pueblo”: A Trademark for Tradition
Tourism, the Commodification of Culture, and Authenticating Cultural
Practices
From Stigma to Economic Value
Chorotega TM: Local Products
Symbolizing Indigeneity. Media and Other Influences
Ownership of Tradition through Corporate Strategy
Local Disputes over Cultural Ownership
Local Festivals and Culture Performed for Insiders
Insiders and Outsiders. A Relative Matter
Obstacles to the Trademark
Performing Indigeneity in the Reservation
 
Chapter 9: Performing Identity in the Other Communities of Study
Heritage Tourism and Authenticity
Branding Nature
Performing Local Life
Scripted Lives and Sanitized Tours
Sustainability, Locally-Owned, Organic, Fair Trade, and Family-Owned:
Marketable Labels
Bob Marley in Costa Rica
Parallel Performances
Marketing the Nation
Performance of Identity among Tourists and Others
 
Chapter 10: Sanitized Tours of Exploitable Work Zones. The Nexus of Tourism and Its Alternatives
“Learning to Walk through Mud Without Getting Muddy”: Bananera Memories
 
Chapter 11: Striking a Balance: Possibilities for Responsible Tourism
Recommendations for Tourists
Recommendations to Potential Expatriates or Foreign Residents
Advice from Expats for Expats
Recommendations for Costa Rican Towns or the National Government
Trade-Offs, Revisited
 

About the Author

Karen Stocker is assistant professor of anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. Her publications include Historias Matambugueñas (1995) and "I Won't Stay Indian, I'll Keep Studying": Race, Place, and Discrimination in a Costa Rican High School (2005).

Reviews

“Based on nearly two decades of field research in Costa Rica, Karen Stocker explores a range of tourism projects in that country—from indigenous attempts to ‘brand’ their unique cultural traditions, to eco-tourism, to resorts appealing to both Costa Rican clientèle and international tourists. Stocker provides a much more nuanced tourism analysis than most studies. She navigates the complexities of both the benefits (achieved and potential) vs. the negative impacts of tourism and shows the multiplex ways in which the providers and consumers respond to these complexities. She concludes by offering recommendations by which the various participants might practice a ‘responsible tourism.’”
*Karl H. Schwerin, The University of New Mexico, PhD*

“Here is a fascinating, unpredictable, and deeply honest story about the tourism industry in Costa Rica. Building on two decades of ethnographic research and hundreds of interviews with tourists, locals, business owners, and expats, Stocker shares compelling and often surprising stories of how tourism has both delivered and disappointed on many promises. She has a talent for seeing all sides and helping us see them too. The pages come alive with the voices and views of real people who have real stakes in Costa Rican tourism. The result is the most balanced and insightful ‘anthropology of tourism’ I've seen.”
*Amanda Stronza, Texas A&M University*

“This excellent book provides a multi-dimensional assessment of the impacts—positive and negative, subtle and shocking—of tourism in Costa Rica. Based on in-depth interviews and years of personal observations in Costa Rica, Karen Stocker weaves a rich and complex mosaic of how both “hosts” and “guests” are experiencing the tidal wave of tourism that has hit Costa Rica over the last quarter century. Stocker puts a human face on international tourism, building her analysis on the voices and views of Costa Ricans from indigenous and rural poor to workers, youth, and elite. She also puts a face on outsiders: long time foreign residents, newer arrivals, and various types of tourists, from eco- to adventure to sun-and-sand.”
*Martha Honey, Co-founder of the Center for Responsible Travel*