Ethnic Tourism in Sierra Tarahumara/Planeta.com

Ethnic Tourism in the Sierra Tarahumara:
A Comparison of Two Raramuri Ejidos
by Amy Elizabeth Anderson

CHAPTER 6: COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION

This thesis has explored two development strategies used by neighboring native communities. One is an indigenously derived strategy, the other involves external influence. Four issues-- economic development, tourist attractiveness, inter-ethnic relations, and community cohesiveness-- were compared. This concluding chapter analyzes the case study information. From this discussion, conclusions are drawn and solutions proposed which relate to the bigger picture of ethnic tourism.

Issue I - Economic Development

The ejidos of Arareco and Cusarare have many economic similarities. Both are occupied by Raramuri who have traditionally lived on subsistence agriculture and now both are dealing with the increasing demands and opportunities provided by the changing world, in particular tourism. Economic development occurs in the two ejidos quite differently, however. Arareco's tourist project is government subsidized and organized by COSYDDHAC while Cusarare's approach to tourism receives no subsidy and is carried out by the Raramuri ejido members themselves. Plans in Arareco for tourist development resemble those of a resort, similar to nearby mestizo facilities. Cusarare, on the other hand, maintains traditional income activities but supplements it through handicraft sales. Both ejidos collect fees from tourists, Arareco's three dollar fee goes to paying the fee-collectors and to invest in the tourist project. The one dollar fee at Cusarare is spent on specific projects which first benefit the community, sometimes tourism, and often both. The economic goals in Arareco are diverse and at times contradictory while since ejido income is so small, those in Cusarare are simple, such as fixing the church floor. Much of the income in Arareco is concentrated among a few such as those who work at the entrance stations and live around the developing lake area. Income in Cusarare is spread more evenly among those families who choose to invest in crafts or guiding.

One of the main reasons for the contrasting conditions in the two ejidos is the role of outside-assistance. COSYDDHAC, the human rights group, has been significant in project planning, implementation, and administration for the Arareco Tourist Development Project. The mestizo commission members have been particularly instrumental in assisting Raramuri expenditures of the $1.3 government grant. With profit maximization in mind, emphasis has been placed on developing a tourist resort, but this development reflects the ideals of the mestizo culture and national government rather than the ideals of the Raramuri community in Arareco. Without outside influence, a project could have still occurred but would have taken a much different form.

Cusarare, on the other hand, neither requests nor receives outside aid. The entry fee income benefits the entire community while craft development and sale benefits individuals and families directly. In both cases, the resultant forms of economic development are initiated by the indigenous residents. The lack of outside influence makes Cusarare's approach work within the confines of limited monetary resources. Economic development, such as it is, occurs slowly, in a manner familiar to the residents.

As mentioned before, tourism can be both a strategy and a cause for development. Large scale development tends to focus on short-term goals while slower development allows for adaptation. Development in Arareco is an example of relatively large scale development that has overlooked many of its important cultural and social impacts while Cusarare's slow, gradual development has overcome these same problems. Outside influence in Arareco promoted this large scale development while in Cusarare, inside-initiated economic goals supplement, rather than replace, the traditional lifestyle making ethnic tourism an assimilated and sustainable economic activity.

Issue II - Tourist Attractiveness

Tourists are attracted to both Arareco and Cusarare for many of the same reasons: most want to see an unmodernized people living in a traditional way. Tourists are detracted from Arareco because of the development plans that go along with its tourist project. Cusarare, with no visible development, attracts these same tourists. A tourist project, per se, is not the main detractor in Arareco but rather the grand development plan and also the evidence of outside influence. Cusarare, in contrast, handles tourism is a way that promotes maintenance of culture and is obviously controlled by the Raramuri themselves. Tourists do not want to support development of primitive Indians and opt not to go to Arareco. Instead, tourists go to other ejidos such as Cusarare where change and progress seem slower and nearly invisible.

There are several reasons why Arareco is less attractive to tourists than Cusarare, but outside-assistance has aggravated the problem. Without COSYDDHAC's influence, tourism would probably be continuing in the same way as in Cusarare, with slower change hardly perceptible to the transitory ethnic tourist. COSYDDHAC's notion of change and development is at odds with the present desires of the ethnic tourist who expect a native people living and behaving in a "traditional" way, not competing so furiously in the modern economy. COSYDDHAC members, in order to get "equal" rights for the Raramuri, overlooked the cultural aspects that were attracting the tourists they were trying to capitalize on.

The absence of such outside involvement in Cusarare has prevented these problems. Some of Cusarare's recent success in attracting tourists is due to Arareco's project. Tourists who would normally go to the more accessible Arareco are now opting to go to other ejidos, Cusarare being the most likely since it is next down the road. Tourists are attracted to Cusarare's undeveloped landscape and to the Raramuri's presumably uninfluenced lifestyle. The entry-fee, the designated trails, and the handicraft displays do not offend the tourists' ideas of authenticity because of the modesty of the approach and because this approach is clearly run and controlled by the indigenous residents themselves.

Breaking tourist expectations is one of the most significant factors in tourist attractiveness. This concept emphasizes the opinion of the visitor and overlooks other issues which may be more important to the indigenous group. For the purposes of sustaining ethnic tourism, however, remaining attractive is of key importance. Arareco has become less attractive to the ethnic tourist because their current and future development initiatives deviate from a traditional lifestyle and instead mimic the economic aspirations of their mestizo neighbors. Cusarare's population, in contrast, remains attractive because it maintains traditional activities and dress while engaging in economic activities (such as crafts) which enhance their cultural identity.

Issue III - Inter-ethnic Relations

Inter-ethnic relations in Arareco before the project and in Cusarare at present are similar. In both situations, cooperative relationships were forged between mestizos and Raramuri where both parties benefited from tourists. Each group provided those services it was best suited to; lodging and transportation by the mestizos and crafts and guiding by the Raramuri. The main difference between the two ejidos is that Arareco severed those relations with the implementation of the tourist project while Cusarare maintained them. The decline in tourist visitation in Arareco was accompanied by a rise in Cusarare. Much of this was due to mestizos forming exclusive relationships with Cusarare residents to replace those lost in Arareco. Attempts at negotiation between mestizos and Arareco have failed, while there is better understanding between these same mestizos and residents of Cusarare.

COSYDDHAC had expected to earn a significant entrance fee income from the frequent mestizo tours. They had not conceived of the possibility of a boycott. COSYDDHAC's subsequent promotional campaign about Raramuri "self-determinism" was not taken seriously by the mestizos who see the deterministic power of COSYDDHAC, not of the Raramuri. The boycott might not have happened if COSYDDHAC had paid attention to some of the relationships that had developed over years between the two ethnic groups. While the mestizos' relations with the Raramuri could be termed exploitative (and in many ways it was), the cooperation did result in mutual benefits. It has now changed to competition and animosity. Both the mestizos of Creel and the Raramuri of Arareco suffer by having this old relationship severed.

Cusarare's inside-initiated approach to tourism works within the cooperative framework of mutual benefits forged between the mestizos and the Raramuri. As with tourist attractiveness, the negative consequences of Arareco's project has increased tourism's benefits to Cusarare. Because the mestizos discontinued tours to Arareco, they needed a new destination and readily turned to Cusarare. Cusarare's fee is small compared to Arareco's and the mestizos began to "support" their project. The mestizos do not mind Cusarare's form of self-determinism because although the approach asserts access rights, it also maintains cooperation and mutual benefits. In addition, the mestizos had some respect for the Raramuri who are taking control of their lives and handling development themselves.

Voluntary cooperation without exploitation is difficult to establish, but in an area where each group has distinct skills, each group should provide those services they are most capable of. COSYDDHAC's role in disrupting the formerly cooperative relations between the Creel mestizos and Arareco Raramuri have hurt tourism profits for both parties. Cusarare's relations remain strong, in part because of the bad relations in Arareco. Cusarare receives more business and continue to work with their mestizo neighbors. The residents of Cusarare are well aware of the importance of cooperating with their mestizo neighbors because the mestizos can provide many services, such as lodging and transportation, which the Raramuri cannot. This relationship of dependency is necessary to sustain ethnic tourism in this region.

Issue IV - Community Cohesiveness

The issue of community cohesiveness in Arareco and Cusarare differs from the former three issues because the effects of tourism and its projects or approaches have had negative consequences in both places. This issue, however, is relevant for comparison because the disruption in the communities are different: Arareco's problems can be clearly linked to the tourist project (and therefore outside-assistance) while those in Cusarare are related to tourism in general. Tourism has brought changes to both these ejidos that have made divisions based on economic disparities and community values. The changes that have occurred in Arareco, however, are distinct from those in Cusarare. The gender division in Arareco did not occur in Cusarare because Cusarare's approach maintains the status quo. The other division in Arareco between the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the tourist project is different than Cusarare's division between the entrepreneurs and the traditionalists. While this division surely exists in Arareco it is much more distinct in Cusarare.

The gender and inequality divisions in Arareco can be attributed to the tourist project and its promoters, COSYDDHAC. Before the project, community divisions were subtle but these divisions were sharpened and defined with COSYDDHAC's interference. COSYDDHAC planners worked with the male ejido members in order to implement the project and so primarily men were provided employment opportunities while displacing the women. Also, it was COSYDDHAC's business expertise that promoted concentrated development around already popular Lake Arareco and therefore providing the majority of employment opportunities to lake residents. Without COSYDDHAC's influence, the project would probably not occur in the same manner. Perhaps the women would not have been left out and there would be not be the over-development in the Lake area that would divide the communities.

Cusarare does not have distinct gender and beneficiary/non-beneficiary divisions. There are divisions, however, between the entrepreneurs and traditionalists. Even though the approach to tourism is inside-initiated, the Raramuri of Cusarare have not being able to incorporate tourism in a way that brings consensus among all ejido members. However, problems in the community can probably be attributed to the very existence of tourism rather than any particular approach taken towards it. The struggle between the "progressive" entrepreneurs and the traditionalists is one played out throughout Raramuri history as they continue to define their culture in the face of the changing world.

Tourism brings change regardless to its "approach." This is evident in Arareco and Cusarare. Both have had problems but the nature of these problems are quite different. The outside interference in Arareco made divisions that did not exist so formally before. The inside approach has avoided the two divisions occurring in Arareco but has distinguished the ever-present division between those who want to change and those who want to stay the same.

Approaches to Ethnic Tourism: Outside versus Inside

Arareco's approach to tourism, specifically the role of outside assistance, has many disadvantages. Economic development is fast and uneven, tourist attractiveness has declined in large part due to this development, and inter-ethnic relations between mestizos and Raramuri are one of non-communication. Cusarare's approach avoids these problems as economic development is slow and internally controlled, tourists continue to find the ejido attractive, and relations with mestizos are cooperative and mutually beneficial. Arareco and Cusarare both lack cohesive communities but for different reasons. Arareco's divisions stem from outside assistance while Cusarare's is more related to general problems with tourism. This example is important to show that even though Cusarare's approach to tourism has so many advantages over Arareco's, not all problems can be resolved in such a changing environment.

As mentioned in the introductory chapter, Arareco and Cusarare have a similar goal; to benefit from the increasing tourism. Instead of helping Arareco residents achieve this goal, outside-assistance and the project caused more problems than it solved. Arareco residents would probably be better off maintaining tourism in its prior form or handling the tourist project themselves. Perhaps if the project idea was derived by the Raramuri, as well as carried out and implemented by them, there may have been fewer problems. In general, the project was too big and the objectives too broad which necessitated COSYDDHAC's assistance for successful implementation. Cusarare's approach to tourism has many advantages compared to Arareco's. By using resources and ideas from the inside, development and change works within a framework that is most desirous for the Raramuri, as well as for their mestizo neighbors and the tourists. Local ideas, based on a shared history and culture, may be more appropriate and more likely to succeed such as they did in Cusarare.

This comparative analysis of Arareco and Cusarare does have wider importance. Ethnic tourism literature has been neglectful in addressing the effects of outside influence in contrast with a similar area which is not subject to that influence. Areas as diverse as Indonesia (Tana Toraja), India (Ladakhi), Panama (Kuna), Bolivia, Ecuador, and China (Bai, Dai, Sani Yi) are all dealing with issues that relate to this outside versus inside debate. This thesis has shown that, in the case of Arareco and Cusarare, that the inside-initiated approach has some distinct advantages over that of the outside-assisted approach. In particular, the problems that occur with outside-assistance are avoided. It is very difficult for outside help to consider all the underlying and peripheral issues that are relevant to the tourism situation. These same issues, some of which were covered in the cases of Arareco and Cusarare, are often implicitly understood by the indigenous population. Therefore, conflicts concerning these "issues," such as inter-ethnic relations, are more easily avoided.

No correct answer or perfect solution is proffered here; rather a presentation of alternatives with examples of what has worked and what has not is offered. The comparative analysis of Arareco and Cusarare has demonstrated that outside-assistance, promoted as "grassroots" because it worked with the people, has not helped the Raramuri manage tourism better. For the purposes of ethnic tourism, perhaps it is better to leave an indigenous group alone to handle their own tourism rather than try to ameliorate already satisfactory conditions. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Qualifying Comments and Future Research

This thesis has demonstrated the superiority of Cusarare's approach to that of Arareco's for the purpose of ethnic tourism based on economic, aesthetic, social, and culturally related issues. One of the many issues that could have been analyzed, but was not because it has only recently emerged, is the issue of land tenure or political power. However, it is important to mention this issue and its relevance because it demonstrates some clear advantages of Arareco's approach over that of Cusarare's. Although this discussion deviates slightly from the subject of ethnic tourism, this information is consequential for those specifically interested in this case study for it continues the recent history of outside influence in the Sierra Tarahumara.

The Agrarian Reform law of 1992 includes a chapter which allows the privatization of ejidos. This means that now, with only 1/3 ejido vote, the ejido can be divided among its individual members who then have the right to sell, lease, or rent their land. Although selling, leasing, and renting of ejido land has been going on illegally since the ejido system was first implemented, the land was still federally recognized as occupied by the ejido members and therefore the land had some protection. Now there is the risk of land being consolidated in a few hands like it was before the Mexican Revolution. This new land reform, however, need not affect ejidos if they choose not to subdivide their land or are not pressured to do so.

The Arareco Tourist Development Project, even with all its problems, was meant to provide a use for ejido land and an income and livelihood for its residents. Although at the present these goals are not being achieved, the land is being kept under the existing Raramuri community ownership. In addition, with COSYDDHAC's strong and vocal presence, it is easier for the ejido to fight against other outside pressures. In Cusarare, there is no such protector and so the land tenure situation is precarious. In chapter 5 a hotel was mentioned on the land of Cusarare. The American owner has offered to purchase the land on which the hotel sits plus the acreage around, including farm land, and the river. In exchange, the American will build the displaced Raramuri a parking lot and a store in which they may sell crafts. Many of the affected Raramuri express neither approval nor disapproval but rather passive resignation of the situation. Apparently, the hotel has already made demands on the river which has affected the agricultural base. Other ejido members are quite vocal in their opposition, feeling that this hotel will only be followed by another. Soon, more development will fracture the Raramuri community, take their farmland, and accelerate cultural assimilation.

For present-day ethnic tourism, the Arareco Tourist Development Project and COSYDDHAC have hurt the ejido. However, these same elements have assisted the Raramuri of Arareco in keeping their land in one piece. The slower developing and attractive ejido of Cusarare, by contrast, may soon be divided by another type of influence, that of outside investment. These issues and the long term results of these approaches to tourism deserve future study.