Using Foucault to construct normative guidelines for an ethics of tourist–indigenous encounters

Abstract

Tourism exploring indigenous cultures is supported by proponents as a way for historically marginalized indigenous people to use their culture as a revenue source, with the benefits of nurturing their culture while simultaneously generating income. Critics, however, charge that indigenous cultural tourism subjects indigenous people to non-indigenous demands and thus drives an exploitative process eroding indigenous culture. These arguments have a normative subtext involving both a descriptive issue in terms of identifying when a tourist–indigenous encounter is “appropriate” or “inappropriate” and a prescriptive issue in terms of what can be done to encourage tourist–indigenous encounters to be the former rather than the latter. This article is an attempt to address these normative issues using the theories of Michel Foucault to construct guidelines that help participants within tourist–indigenous encounters navigate the issues of indigenous cultural tourism.