REMAKING RACE, CLASS, AND REGION IN A TOURIST TOWN

As Cartagena, Colombia becomes more enmeshed in transnational cultural and economic circuits, a discourse of Caribbean identity has emerged. Elites promote this identity as part of their effort to attract forei gn tourism and intensify the city's involvement in the international m arket. The discourse also helps mask racial discrimination, renders bl ackness nearly invisible, and attempts to ''domesticate'' blacks for s ervice in the tourist industry. Thus, emphasizing a hybrid Caribbean i dentity forms part of a strategy of domination. At the same time, some middle-class intellectuals and sectors of the popular class have appr opriated this discourse to engage in cultural politics. However, the l iberatory impact of these (potentially) oppositional visions is limite d by the political, economic, and military power of the state and the dominant classes. This case study of the discourse of hybrid Caribbean identity in Cartagena serves as a critique of postmodern thinking tha t celebrates hybrid identities and the liberatory potential of cultura l politics.