Abstract:
Honduras is becoming a leading tourism destination in the Central America. In
fact, in March 2015, Honduras was inducted into the “Golden Book” of tourism by the
World Tourism Organization, declaring the country to be committed to “sustainable” and
“responsible” tourism development. Indeed, “sustainable” tourism development - as
opposed to the top-down, exclusive, bureaucratic development models predominant since
before the 1980s - are now the development paradigms states are adopting in the midst of
democratic reforms. Alternative development models are becoming popular because they
champion the active participation of the local (often marginalized) indigenous
populations in development processes. Meanwhile, more and more indigenous groups are
successfully organizing politically at the national and international levels to fight for their
claims to cultural and civic recognition as well as their right to land and its resources,
which are often times endangered by the expansion of development projects. The
Garifuna afro-descendant communities of Honduras represent one such population hoping to engage in the rapid growth of tourism development as well as potentially
redefining their role and participation in the Honduran national narrative through
development processes. Initial fieldwork in 2012 explored the process through which
Tornabé, a local Garifuna community, organized and obtained an agreement with the
Honduran government and national/international investors regarding the development,
construction, and management of a nearby, large-scale tourism complex: Indura Beach
and Golf Resort. Preliminary results at the time pointed to a successful collaborative
relationship between all actors, though interviews and participant-observation methods
conducted two years later (2014) exposed more complex dynamics between all major
actors and during a different - more tense - sociopolitical and economic context. By
tracing the history of the Garifuna in Honduras and discussing the intensification of
tourism development in the Tela Bay area, this thesis analyzes the ways in which
Tornabé is attempting – and perhaps struggling – to negotiate their involvement in the
local tourism economy while exploring the concepts of indigeneity, citizenship, and
transnational identities within the Garifuna context.
