Friction in the forest: a confluence of structural and discursive political ecologies of tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Abstract

Tourism in the Anthropocene is a powerful driver of global connections that has direct consequences for social and environmental well-being across the planet. This political ecological analysis of tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazonian presents ethnographic vignettes to account for the ways that interwoven global discourses related to biodiversity conservation and community development are encountered, contested, and leveraged to advance particular approaches to tourism at the local level. We invoke Tsing’s theory of friction to frame these discursive encounters in the context of tourism-related decision-making in the community of Misahuallí, including instances of discursive shifts being leveraged into improved well-being of local residents. This paper makes an important contribution to the scholarship on the political ecology of tourism by bringing the emic perspectives of local residents to the forefront and by demonstrating the value of Tsing’s friction metaphor for analyzing the global connections inherent in tourism. Frictions between inequities and imbalances of power, perpetuated by both the structures and discourses associated with the use of tourism to address conservation and development objectives, remain at the vanguard of tourism research as we move through the Anthropocene.

Keyword:

• Conservation
• development
• friction
• Indigenous communities
• political ecology
• Ecuador

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a M.G. Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Research Grant from the Pennsylvania State University Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annie A. Marcinek

Annie A. Marcinek received her BA in Anthropology in 2014 and received her MS in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management in 2017 from The Pennsylvania State University. She is interested in the relationship between natural resource extraction and ecotourism, especially among rural communities in Latin America working to promote positive local social, economic, and environmental outcomes.

Carter A. Hunt

Carter A. Hunt is an Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at The Pennsylvania State University. He received his PhD in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences from Texas A&M University. He is an environmental anthropologist who researches the intersections of tourism, biodiversity conservation, sustainable community development in Latin America, and beyond.