Tourism and ethnicity - The brotherhood of coconuts

This paper relates the impact of tourism development in the coastal area of Malindi. Kenya, to the stimulation and negotiation of ethnic conflict with in the host community. The thesis is that tourism acts as a catalyst for th e re-interpretation of identity among members of the local community who de pend on or are otherwise affected by the industry and its many businesses. One implication is chat the observed inter-ethnic relationships within this community should be understood as having been mitigated by tout ism. A fur ther implication is that the tourist contact may result in unforeseen outco mes that may or may not favor further tourism development. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.