Paradise glossed: tourism imaginaries, alienation, and the construction of landscape in Santa Cruz la Laguna, Guatemala

摘要

In this article I examine how expectations and experiences of a so-called 'tropical paradise' are informed by tourism imaginaries of and perceptions of authentic encounters in the natural and cultural landscape of Santa Cruz la Laguna, Guatemala. These landscapes imaginaries are often rooted in, mobilized by, and performed through a sense of alienation from both 'Western life' and local daily realities, and, moreover, collectively articulated among tourists and reproduced within the tourist destination. In this article, I approach the tourism landscape as a space in and through which imaginaries are constructed, materially and symbolically, and shaping social lives of tourists while traveling. I analyze these imaginaries through unraveling tourist narratives revolving around a pursuit for natural idyll of 'the tropics' and experiences of 'authentic' encounters. I argue that landscape imaginaries are linked to the way in which alienation, on different levels, is both reified and rejuvenated among tourists and, in so doing, release different meanings and structure the local landscape. I Discuss how these imaginaries are subject to tourists' expectations of 'paradise' and experiences of being-in-the-world in Santa Cruz.