Tourism and Cultural Change in Costa Rica: Pitfalls and Possibilities - Hardcover

Karen Stocker is assistant professor of anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. Her publications include Historias Matambugueñas (1995) and "I Won't Stay Indian, I'll Keep Studying": Race, Place, and Discrimination in a Costa Rican High School (2005).

“Based on nearly two decades of field research in Costa Rica, Karen Stocker explores a range of tourism projects in that country—from indigenous attempts to ‘brand’ their unique cultural traditions, to eco-tourism, to resorts appealing to both Costa Rican clientèle and international tourists. Stocker provides a much more nuanced tourism analysis than most studies. She navigates the complexities of both the benefits (achieved and potential) vs. the negative impacts of tourism and shows the multiplex ways in which the providers and consumers respond to these complexities. She concludes by offering recommendations by which the various participants might practice a ‘responsible tourism.’”
(Karl H. Schwerin, The University of New Mexico, PhD)

“Here is a fascinating, unpredictable, and deeply honest story about the tourism industry in Costa Rica. Building on two decades of ethnographic research and hundreds of interviews with tourists, locals, business owners, and expats, Stocker shares compelling and often surprising stories of how tourism has both delivered and disappointed on many promises. She has a talent for seeing all sides and helping us see them too. The pages come alive with the voices and views of real people who have real stakes in Costa Rican tourism. The result is the most balanced and insightful ‘anthropology of tourism’ I've seen.” (Amanda Stronza, Texas A&M University)

“This excellent book provides a multi-dimensional assessment of the impacts—positive and negative, subtle and shocking—of tourism in Costa Rica. Based on in-depth interviews and years of personal observations in Costa Rica, Karen Stocker weaves a rich and complex mosaic of how both “hosts” and “guests” are experiencing the tidal wave of tourism that has hit Costa Rica over the last quarter century. Stocker puts a human face on international tourism, building her analysis on the voices and views of Costa Ricans from indigenous and rural poor to workers, youth, and elite. She also puts a face on outsiders: long time foreign residents, newer arrivals, and various types of tourists, from eco- to adventure to sun-and-sand.” (Martha Honey, Co-founder of the Center for Responsible Travel)

Tourism and Cultural Change in Costa Rica: Pitfalls and Possibilities examines the consequences—positive, negative, and otherwise—of tourism in four different sites in Costa Rica. Based on ethnographic research and interviews with tourists, tour operators, tourists-turned-settlers, and locals living in tourist destinations, this book seeks to put in conversation with one another these varied perspectives with the aim of presenting forms of tourism beneficial to all parties.