The Impact of Tourism on Cultural Identity in Peru.

• Author: Tavarez, Lia

To what extent does tourism, as a facet of development, impact cultural identity? Many developing countries rely on tourism for both economic growth and infrastructure development. This reliance on tourism has led to a phenomenon known as nation branding, or the act of applying "corporate branding techniques to countries." (1) Nation branding allows countries to create a favorable national image that attracts both foreign investors and international tourists, but little is known about how the process of nation branding to increase tourism affects communities, especially cultural identity. This paper delves into background information about development, tourism, and identity, then explores how the three factors interact in Yanque, a small town in Central Peru. By examining the narratives of Yanque residents, this paper reveals that tourism has negatively impacted the cultural identity of Yanque because identity is manipulated and defined from "above" through the national branding strategies of the country. This paper also identifies three negative impacts on cultural identity: 1) community members are marginalized; 2) culture is es-sentialized and commodified, and 3) traditions, customs, and values are negatively impacted.

Methodology

Since changes in cultural identity are difficult to measure using large-scale statistical methods, this study adopts the case study method and employs process-tracing, which "attempts to trace the links between possible causes and observed outcome." (2) It draws directly from anthropology--more specifically ethnographic methodology--to grapple with concepts of culture, identity, and change in Yanque and surrounding towns. During a one-month research trip in Yanque in June 2019, the author of this study joined community members as they went about their daily lives and interactions. Additionally, they gathered interview data and relied on existing documents to explore the causal relationship between tourism, national branding, and cultural change. In total, the research team collected twenty-five interviews from Yanque residents. These interviews were conducted as part of Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Dr. Eric Hirsch's, research, which was approved by the Franklin and Marshall Institutional Research Board. Interviewee selection was completely random. The interviews ranged from fifteen minutes to one hour. Individuals were asked to answer the following questions: 1) What is the cultural identity of the community in Yanque, in terms of food, clothing, language, way of life? Is the cultural identity of Yanque different from other communities in Peru? 2) Is there tourism in Yanque? If yes, please describe? 3)What is the relationship between Yanque and AUTO-COLCA, meaning how does the government influence tourism in the area? 4) How has tourism changed Yanque and its people? 5) Do you believe that the overall impact of tourism is positive or negative in the town of Yanque?

Before presenting the findings, a few caveats are in order. First, findings are based on existing documents and original interview data, and more research is merited. Second, culture, identity, and change are extremely complex concepts and hard to fully capture in this short analysis. Lastly, this paper argues that tourism and nation branding are among the contributors to cultural change in Yanque, but not the sole factors. More research is needed to tease out the nuances in the relationships between these issues.

Definitions and Clarifications

Tourism has been commonly viewed as a tool for development, including in the Colca Valley in Peru. But what is "development" and what does the academic community know about this process? For some, it has many positive connotations--it refers to growth, maturing, and expansion. "Development" is also potentially negative and ethnocentric; thus, it remains a highly contested term, and the academic community is split on whether different aspects of development have an overall positive or negative effect.

Early work on development mostly focused on purely economic aspects; however, that changed with Amartya Sen's groundbreaking work Development as Freedom. Sen expresses that development should concern itself with "the expansion of capabilities for a person to lead the kind of life they value and have reason to value." (3) Sen's work recognizes that the previous emphasis on economic wealth and trade in developmental studies ignores the importance of multiple aspects of individual freedoms as well as the human and social aspects of the developmental process. He outlines five instrumental freedoms, "political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security," which complement each other to improve an individual's liberty to live their life. (4) As such, Sen argues that a person's ability to live and practice their culture is an instrumental freedom because he values people's choices. For this study, development will be understood as the implementation of strategies and structures that advance a multifaceted process of promoting freedoms for all citizens. This holistic definition is unlike earlier understandings of development that solely focused on economics.

It is also helpful to define the concept of culture. Like many of the concepts discussed above, the definitions of culture and cultural identity have been contested over time. In 1996, David Matsumoto defined culture as "the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next'." (5) This definition remained dominant until 2008. Then, Helen Spencer-Oatey defined culture as "a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations to life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioral conventions that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member's behavior and his/her interpretations of the 'meaning' of other people's behavior." (6) This definition considers how culture might influence someone's behavior and understanding of others.

Although the definition of culture continues to evolve, scholars agree that culture incorporates values, beliefs, knowledge, traditions, and behavior and is something that is learned, shared, and passed down. Culture affects the behavior of an individual and how they understand the world and others. Thus, cultural identity is best understood through discourse, both internal and external. Cultural identity is deeply connected to who a person is and part of someone's identity stems from their culture. Nevertheless, many agree that cultural identity encompasses more than a shared lifestyle among people. (7) Toyin Falola argues that cultural identity involves "issues of history, environment, values, social stratification, knowledge, power, and wealth, which are also the domain of development." (8)

Tourism as Development

Many nations rely on the tourism sector to promote economic expansion. (9) Tourism is not only "a social phenomenon; it is also a big business." (10) According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, tourism is associated with "sustainable economic growth" because it leads to predictable patterns of consumption and production. (11) The Role of the Tourism Sector in Expanding Economic Opportunity by Caroline Ashley, Peter De Brine, Amy Lehr, and Hannah Wilde, explains that tourism promotes economic growth in three ways: 1) increased employment opportunities as well as earnings 2) "inter-sectoral impact" by bringing together different sectors such as construction, food, and transportation; And 3) changes in "livelihood strategies" and the economic aims of local communities. (12) In Peru, the tourism sector has grown exponentially in the last few decades. This growth has been both in the formal sector, such as restaurants, hotels, and tours, and the informal sector, such as street vendors and informal guides.

Many disadvantages also arise from the industry. Some documented consequences of tourism are the commercialization of culture and economic dependency. (13) Tourism thrives off the demand of visitors from other nations. As shown by Tamar Diana Wilson, the relationship between tourist destination countries and the countries of origin of their visitors is often asymmetrical and therefore, dependent. (14)

The literature suggests that there is a pattern of foreign control over the local tourism economy of developing countries. (15) In the interest of keeping up with the structural and commercial demands of tourists, governments seek out foreign investments and loans. Through investments, foreign countries and institutions "influence the development of projects, tourist-oriented or not, in the Third World by tying loans to specific political formulations and policies." (16) This influence is broadened by the prevalence of transnational corporations that gain ownership of industries and companies in the host country and retain control of decisions and finances. (17) The literature concludes that political and economic decisions in tourist destination countries are "subordinate to "foreign pressure groups and privileged local classes," leaving low income and middle-class locals at a disadvantage. (18)

The influence of international actors on the local economy disproportionately affects low-income communities in the host country. (19) This gives rise to exploitative labor conditions such as low wages and excessive hours. (20) Tourist destinations thrive on being the "cheap option," and as Wilson notes, "tourists do not go to Third World countries because the people are friendly, they go because a holiday there is cheap." (21) The priority is then, not to benefit the local community, but rather to advantage tourists and investors by remaining low-cost. Furthermore, in the local communities, the industry is seen as "a quick and easy way to earn foreign exchange and receive much...