Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Over thirty years of anthropological research in a northeastern province of the Dominican Republic documents the transitions of an agrarian based economy to a tourism-service based economy, and hence the region into the global economy. This research explores narratives of local residents as they contemplate the benefits and consequences of tourism development as a strategy for eliminating poverty. Following structural adjustment programs implemented by the International Monetary Fund in the 1980s, the Dominican Republic moved toward foreign investment that has come primarily in the form of tourism development. This strategy has created expanded wealth for some Dominicans, while the majority in this region have not benefitted, at least not directly. Statistics suggest that overall poverty may not be alleviated by the presence of tourism development in a community. Some members of the community have noted that the tangible and visible inequality of wealth, along with the increased exposure to foreigners and their values, have increased social problems, notably drug use and violence among the youth. Globalization in its many forms has arrived in this region of the Dominican Republic bringing with it mixture of responses from the community, and varying degrees of economic restructuring.