Globalization Essay

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Hi everybody, here is my second paper, as promised. The trip to Thailand was great, we got back Sunday morning and we're off on another field visit here in a few minutes. Life is moving along quite quickly these days- I'll back-blog about Thailand shortly!


Mallory Vogel
Globalization
SJPD 2007

Neo-colonialism: Tourism in Goa

Walking along Colva beach in India’s state of Goa, you wander through a mix of national and international tourists. Waves lapping at your feet, you glance to your right and notice Boomerang, a bar and restaurant where mainly white tourists lounge in swimwear and sip cocktails. As they lay exposed to the sun, Boomerang shelters them from beach vendors and picture-snapping gawkers (usually nationals), so that these foreigners can enjoy the beach portrayed in the vacation brochures. Continuing on, some 50 meters to the north, you begin to notice fish remains scattered in the sand. Stopping here and looking to your right, you’ll see a very different sight. Here, make-shift huts of dried palm leaves house fishing boats and supplies. The piles of nets and scattered fish remains bear witness to the local people’s traditional source of livelihood.

Sporadically throughout the year, the Department of Tourism sends bulldozers to flatten the palm huts, in the name of ure is commodified and packaged so that the tourists see only the pleasant parts. Father Maverick says that tourism in Goa has gone from being a cultural exchange to a commercial relationship. The question is no longer “How much can I share with them?” he says, but rather, “How much can I get from them?” Instead of encouraging tourists to engage in the local culture, commercialized tourism imports commodities from the west, implying that the west knows best. Goa’s fresh water resources are limited, and they are further strained by tourist amenities such as swimming pools and golf courses. When local villagers wait at a dry tap to collect water for their daily needs and foreigners relax on well-watered lawns, it sends the message that the outsiders’ recreation is more important than the natives’ basic necessities and reinforces the cultural hierarchy.

Workers who depend on the tourists for income in Bogmalo, Goa, bring neo-colonialism to a personal level. A local shop-owner, Maggie, described her dependence on the outsiders by saying that if they don’t buy very much during the high season, it will be hard for her to take care of her children and send them to school during the rest of the year. For the most part, Maggie maintained a positive attitude when speaking about the tourists because, she pointed out, they are the only source of income she knows. However, after we had been chatting for a while, she opened up, and she admitted that there is a level of distrust with the tourists. “They think I try to cheat them when I charge so much,” she said, but she went on to explain that she has to charge as much as she does in order to ensure that she’ll have enough to pay rent for her shop, even though it means charging more than the women who sell right from the beach. She talked of having to appease the customers in order to gain their trust. Frustration showed in her eyes as she described having to humble herself and honor them as though they are better than her, “too much worry, worry, worry,” she said, shaking her head.
A group of taxi drivers outside of Maggie’s shop expressed similar discontent with condescending tourists. “The rich tourists just expect me to take them where they want to go, they don’t care about talking to me or learning about my culture,” said one driver, demonstrating the shift tourism has made away from cultural exchange. Another driver, Caleb, is a living example of how tourism keeps locals in low-end jobs. He studied and is certified as an air-conditioned mechanic. However, despite the tourists’ demands for cool accommodations, Caleb has not been able to make ends meet in the trade he trained for. Instead, he has found it necessary to turn to the taxi business, a job that requires very little formal education, in order to make a living. The drivers expressed that they do not wish for their children to follow in their footsteps. The general consensus was that it would be better for them to get government jobs so that they would not have to depend on the flow of the foreign tourists for income.

Luckily this shift and neo-colonialism are not going completely un-checked. Local NGOs, including the Counsel for Social Justice and Peace, have opened an Information Center where they aim to inform tourists of the facts and realities of Goa. The Counsel has also published a “Do’s and Don’ts of Tourism” list to help tourists be responsible about their leisurely activities. Goa’s Department of Tourism has endorsed “inter-land tourism,” where villagers host tourists in their homes as a way of bringing more focus back to the “What can I share with you?” question. Tourists to developing countries can choose to stay in locally owned and operated hotels and guest houses. By avoiding hotel and restaurant chains owned by multi-nationals, the tourist can be sure that a reasonable amount of their vacation money will benefit their host community. If we are conscious of how our decisions affect the local community, we can move away from neo-colonialism and cultural imperialism and make a return to the cultural exchange and understanding that responsible tourism should be.


Bibliography
Father Maverick. Personal interview. 19 Oct. 2007.
Fonseca, Shanti. "Organising Our Future in Tourism." Editorial. GT 23 Sept. 2006, sec. A: 8.
“Maggie”. Personal interview. 14 Oct. 2007.
Mascarenhas, Pamela. Goa Tourism Department. Personal interview. 16 Oct. 2007.
Shopkeeper. Personal interview. 14 Oct. 2007.
Sumich, Jason. "Looking for the 'Other': Tourism, Power, and Identity in Zanzibar." Anthropology Southern Africa 25 (2002): 39-45. EBSCO Host. Concordia College. 27 Oct. 2007.
Taxi drivers. Personal interview. 14 Oct. 2007.

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