Globalisation and Culture: A case study of two subterranean communities in southern Tunisia

ABSTRACT

This article highlights impacts of globalisation on local indigenous communities. The methodology of time-geography is linked with elements of humanism to describe cultural impacts from foreign tourism, migration and government modernisation. The changing choreography and lifeworlds of two communities that inhabit subterranean settlements in southern Tunisia are described, based on field observations and interviews with local residents. Fieldwork shows that tourism has promoted constricted movement within the two communities and frontstage/backstage division of living space. Movement of women within the villages has been particularly restricted by the presence of tourists and provision of modern facilities. Social interactions have fragmented and expanded, and this has impacted upon the local environments and communities. A synthetic way of life is taking over from traditional living, reflecting commodification of culture. The research provides as many questions as answers, notably how such marginal communities will continue to react to external forces.