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Dr. João Afonso Baptista

Ph.D. Student (Scholarship holder 10/2007 - 09/2010)
Dissertation defense: May,16 th 2011
Predicate: magna cum laude

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schnepel

The commodification of morality in tourism

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schnepel

This project aims to investigate the dynamic of local management in ethnic tourism by the Mozambican community of Canhane. The main goal is to examine the procedures used by a particular African community in running a business where the product of transaction is their own culture. Having the community dynamics as the core, this research will also analyse the impacts of community empowerment on local inhabitants.
The ascent of tourism has been a central dimension of globalization and has attracted attention for its social implications and for its potential. In the face of the worldwide inequality this activity is now presented as a possible resource for poverty reduction as well.
As tourism grew specific areas within the industry were categorized, ethnic tourism being one of them. This type of tourism is focussed on ethnic uniqueness, which means that it promotes contact among people from different cultures. The "isolated" populations become the main object in ethnic tourism. Consequently ethnic tourism appears to these communities as a form of inclusion in the world-wide system, and as a promising vehicle not only for eradicating poverty but also for promoting local sustainable development.
To social sciences researchers sustainable development is only possible through local active participation, that is, community empowerment. This commonly agreed idea raises a pragmatic contradiction: because it is an activity that depends on its profitability to remain active this type of tourism generally implies management procedures in line with global capitalism knowledge. Consequently, and particularly in ethnic tourism, such activity has usually produced (or maintains) situations where local people, without the know-how necessary for running a globally competitive business, remain the most deprived.
In Mozambique, tourism growth is now seen as a determinant strategy for the country's development. So far, the foreigner private investors and the western NGOs have been the main drivers of this process. To date, the majority of the Mozambican communities selected has been termed by the institutions involved as incapable of managing tourism businesses, and therefore have been kept apart from this process.
However, the Mozambican community of Canhane is running its own tourism business, and using their ethnicity is their core business. Furthermore, the Covane Community Lodge, which they have been running for three years now, is showing profitable results.
What factors are influencing the communitarian management and how is the community managing them? How are the community achievements in self-management in ethnic tourism shaping the local society and culture system? What is the potential of ethnic tourism for community empowerment?

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Curriculum Vitae

Education

Professional Activities

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Publications

• Baptista, J.A.: Os Chineses - Percursos Migratórios e Estratégias de Implementação em Portugal. In: Autonomia 27 (2006).
• Baptista, J.A.; Pereira, J.; Costa, P.: Manual do Activista. In: Autonomia 27 (2006).

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