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Heritage Tourism in the Caribbean: The Politics of Culture after Neoliberalism
Author(s) -
SCHER PHILIP W.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/j.1470-9856.2010.00451.x
Subject(s) - neoliberalism (international relations) , tourism , state (computer science) , biopower , politics , sovereignty , government (linguistics) , political economy , economic interventionism , revenue , economy , political science , cultural heritage , intervention (counseling) , sociology , economics , law , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , accounting , algorithm , psychiatry , computer science
As neoliberalism has taken root in the Caribbean, heritage tourism has grown enormously. Using examples drawn from the Trinidad Carnival, this article shows how culture becomes a marketing force in the wake of increasingly difficult economic times in the Caribbean. As selling culture increases in importance for the overall economic health of Caribbean economies, it becomes, more and more, the focus of Caribbean states and state agencies and a basis for state sovereignty. Drawing on Foucault's notion of biopower, the article draws a connection between the increasing importance of cultural performances for state revenue and government intervention into those performances.