The role of tourism in local power relations A case study of Pisac, Peru
Tourism can be a driving force for socio-cultural change and has the potential to reshape local power dynamics by creating new employment and educational opportunities for traditionally marginalised population groups. Concurrently, the introduction of tourism may also foreground the conditions for the emergence of new business elites and the reproduction of hegemonic power structures which reinforce social differences based on ethnicity, culture and gender. Nevertheless, the examination of local-level power dynamics amongst host communities and the restructuring of local power structures is a topic that remains especially under-researched and undertheorised. Although foreign brokers and tour operators may play a determinant role in influencing the distribution of tourism, asymmetric power relations are also embedded in host communities. If socio-cultural power imbalances are not acknowledged, then tourism development may further intensify existing inequalities. This thesis critically investigates the role of tourism in local power relations within host communities. Although the multi-dimensional and at times anti-participatory power structures impacting host communities are critically examined, the study also explores the possibilities that tourism may afford local actors to renegotiate established power structures. In order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of host society social dynamics, longitudinal case study research was conducted during two different time periods in the town of Pisac, Peru. Ethnographic methods consisting of participant observation and 40 semi-structured interviews were used to collect primary data for this study. The study findings reveal a complex interplay of power relations concerning Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors, both male and female. Tourism was found to simultaneously enhance and restrict opportunities for actors to hold and exercise power. Empowerment, as a state of being, was not displayed as a single point or stage to be reached, but rather as a continuum or process. In Pisac, tourism naturally served to influence the pattern of fluctuations in power across actors in the town and surrounding area. To understand and interpret these shifts and exchanges of power, this study suggests that future research must account for locality, temporality and cultural factors; only when these three elements are considered alongside one another can a representative picture of power relations emerge.
Sotomayor, Rosa Susana Montserrat Codina
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