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1991
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1991 Pergamon
Press plc and J. Jafari
A SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
OF
TOURISM IN LADAKH, INDIA
Universite
Jean Michaud
de Montreal, Canada
Abstract:
Who does tourism benefit when it reaches a small Third-World
community
that was, until then, mostly cut off from the world market?
This article proposes elements for an answer by inquiring into the social
effects of tourism on the emergence of enterprises
in Ladakh, India. In
this case, the article deduces touristic entrepreneurs
profit from their
activities and how they organize to protect their interests. The relevance
of the formal/informal
economic
sectors approach is questioned,
and
some broadening of the analysis is proposed on grounds of cultural and
political economy. Keywords:
tourism, Third World, social anthropology, economics of tourism, local politics, India.
R&urn&
Cet article analyse les effets politiques du tourisme considert 2
travers lapparition dentreprises,
dans le contexte particulier
dune communaute du Ladakh, au Kashmir indien. Lauteur cherche B savoir, dans
ce cas, B quels inter&s se rallient les entrepreneurs
touristiques
et tente
de montrer comment ces gens qui tirent avantage de cette activit& Cconomique sorganisent a cette fin. Au plan theorique,
la pertinence de la
grille des secteurs Cconomiques formels et informels,
en usage dans les
milieux du dtveloppement
international
pour lintervention
au tiersmonde, sera question&e
et un elargissement
de la perspective
sur la
base de facteurs culturels sera propose. Mots-cl&:
tourisme, tiers-monde,
anthropologie
sociale, politique locale, Inde.
INTRODUCTION
During the last 30 years, the number of publications dealing with
the study of tourism has grown to several thousand titles. However, a
disproportionately
large percentage of these studies deal with economic
prospects of tourism in the developed or capitalist economies (e.g.,
see bibliographies
edited by Baretje 1980; Jafari 1979; Mann 1985a,
1985b). When a wide public is being addressed in the terms of this
macroeconomic
approach, as in publications of the United Nations,
the notions generally stressed are the prospects for Third-World
countries to earn foreign currency, to rebalance their external debts, to
develop their infrastructures,
or to modernize or to westernize the host
Jean Michaud
is a Ph.D. research fellow in anthropology
and the executive secretary of the Groupe dkudes et de recherches SW IAsie contemporaine (Facultt
des Sciences
sociales, Universitt
Laval, Qutbec, Canada, GlK 7P4). Having recently completed a
study of the social impacts of tourist development in Ladakh, he is currently undertaking research in Northern Thailand.
605
606
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
societies-i.e.,
to progress in First-World terms (Hoivik and Heidberg
1980). More specialized publications addressing only a restricted audience, often investors, paint a picture of high economic profitability,
low capital investment necessary at the outset, low wages, and favorable conditions in the host country. In microeconomics
of tourismwhere the action is-research
is scarcer. But there is growing interest
in this area, because some optimistic provisions about the fair share of
the benefits among all partners proved to be questionable
(Britton
and Clarke 1987; Turner 1976; Young 1973).
At the local level, the most visible tourist development is lodging,
services, and sales enterprises.
Ever since post-World War II, when
economic projects were established in developing countries, an effort
has been made to draw a global picture of this type of economic activity
in the Third-World
countries. In order to understand and act upon it,
researchers have worked, through reflection and experimentation,
to
elaborate on theoretical constructs accounting for both the accepted
economic model and this Third-World
prospective.
In 1971, Keith Hart, an anthropologist,
proposed a refined concept
of what was until then called the informal economy. This term refers to all
the undercover economic activities aimed at alleviating income losses,
including the constantly mushrooming
traditional as well as not quite
legal activities that are not officially recognized.
At that time, the
informal economic sector paradigm as a flourishing social and economic research subject (Smith 1989), lacked an integrative framework
that could explain more than the mere economic activities it described.
On the grounds of a study carried out in Ghana, Hart (1973) suggested
that most, if not all, Third-World
countries economies were actually
dual, composed of a formal and an informal sector. Based essentially
on the difference between wage-earning and self-employment,
this paradigm was rapidly adopted by international
organizations
and was to
be widely diffused by the International
Labor Organization
(ILO) and
the World Bank.
In its 1972 publication,
Employment, Incomes and Equalip, IL0 proposed a set of parameters,
based on Harts proposals, to identify the
enterprises and persons belonging to each one of these two sectors.
According to these parameters,
the formal sector includes the enterprises that are officially listed: They possess licenses, are registered for
taxation purposes, and are eligible for State funding. By contrast,
enterprises in the informal sector generally operate without legal recognition (and, therefore, without protection) and are neither registered
nor officially taxed. Because they operate outside the system of state
funding and taxation, they are subject to extortion and elimination.
Income is generally low and unpredictable.
Because they can hardly
last long enough to collaborate and to organize in groups with common
interests, informal enterprises have little influence on political decisions. According to this view- but not necessarily included in Harts
proposalsthese two sectors exist in a balanced relationship that ensures social justice through the laws of the free market to the point
that a liberal economic environment
should be sufficient to ensure the
harmonious development of the two sectors.
As naive as this surprising confidence in free market equity may
JEAN MICHAUD
607
seem nowadays,
its shortsightedness
had to be rigorously demonstrated. Applying the sectoral approach to the economies of ThirdWorld countries, researchers,
including Long and Richardson (1978)
and Trager (1987), challenged ILOs propositions; they demonstrated
that, in reality, the informal sector enterprises
are often subject to
regulations whose aim is to adjust their operation according to the
needs of the formal sector. If they are considered to be incompatible
with the development of the formal sector, the informal enterprises are
partially or totally ousted, without compensation.
By allowing competition free range, the state, supposedly a neutral agent in a liberal
economy, favors, according to these authors, the free development of
the market. But these actions lead directly to reproducing the socioeconomic inequalities already prevalent before the beginning of capitalist
development and, ultimately, to a surplus labor force torn away from
the land, deprived of its means of production, from which the formal
sector can henceforth draw according to its own needs.
Through the application of the formal/informal
approach to local
tourist economic development,
many authors came to similar conclusions-for
example, Maurer (1979) on Indonesia, Boissevain and Inglott (1979) on Malta, Reynoso y Valle and deRegt (1979) on Mexico,
Britton (1982) on the Third World in general, Din (1982, 1988) on
Malaysia, Wahnshafft (1982) on Thailand, Farver (1984) on Gambia,
and Jommo (1987) on Kenya.
In light of the criticisms of the ILOs vision of the dual-economy
theory, it could seem fruitless to base yet another analysis on such a
heavily criticized paradigm,
considered outmoded by many. Moreover, since the time of its elaboration,
many related developments
have led to refinements
in the theory that simple binary opposition
precluded. The dual-market
theory (Doeringer
and Piore 1971; Edwards, Gordon and Reich 1976) with questions related to internal
colonialism
and the cultural division of labor (particularly
Hechter
1975), and the split labor market theory (especially Bonacich 1979)
exemplify fields of study related to the theoretical essays linking political economy, class divisions, and ethnicity. Furthermore,
the still ongoing research on the informal sector includes considerations
of the
necessity of this sectors enterprises as an adapted economic answer to
Third-World
economies (Latouche 1989) and of the role of the state in
encouraging
the development of informal sector enterprises (Portes,
Castells and Benton 1989; Smith 1988). Many of these recent trends
integrate social and cultural factors into their explanation of economic
developments;
therefore, they go far beyond the mere classification of
economic activities to offer a more complete view of the phenomenon
as a whole.
Using one of these newer frameworks could have served the purpose
of the present research; however, demonstrating
the importance
of
integrating the social and the cultural into the economic would have
been less feasible. Such demonstration
was part of the objective; and
Third-World
development
implementation
seems to have remained
tied to the original formal/informal paradigm, notably in the work of
IL0 in Africa. Therefore,
the choice was made to address the original
theoretical proposition.
608
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
At the beginning of this research, and in the tradition of the aforementioned critical analyses, one hypothesis seemed to impose itself.
After classifying the tourist enterprises in a community (with hotels in
the formal sector and small craftsmen in the informal sector, e.g.), one
would find an uneven and simple situation in which the big would
crush the small. However, as one can imagine, reality had a few traps
in store for such a hypothetico-deductive
procedure. This article will
demonstrate that the sectoral division is based on another division that
points to identity oppositions crossed by social, religious, and class
cleavages. As its main contribution,
the article will show how social
complexity can be studied by integrating cultural factors into the economic analysis of the tourist development process at the community
level.
This research was carried out in 1988-1989.
A survey of the available literature was first made, followed by a 3-month stay by the author
in Ladakh, Kashmir,
and Delhi during the summer of 1988. All the
available documents from both public and private sources were examined, then open interviews carried out under a variety of circumstances. Within the last 9 years, the author has stayed in Ladakh on
three occasions prior to undertaking formal fieldwork, a fact that helps
to assure better some diachronic considerations
and, thus, compensate
for the briefness of his most recent visit.
A TIBETAN
ENCLAVE
IN INDIA
609
JEAN MICHAUD
CHINA
CIIBET)
he
........ cease
- -
Road
Railway
+
llne
International
Boundary
A~rporl
610
SOCIAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
JEAN
MICHAUD
611
inhabited today by 8,500 people, that has found itself slowly changed
by economic development:
the building of hotels, restaurants,
and
other businesses, the execution of more public work projects, and an
increased demand for services of all sorts. Thanks to advantageous
financial conditions at the State Bank of India, private tourist enterprises have been created on a regular basis. For reasons already alluded
to, the central state was only too happy to encourage this new vector
of lasting occupation of the territory.
For a region without industries and whose natural resources are
possibilities.
difficult to exploit, tourism offers seductive economic
However, after several years of this new form of development,
local
leaders soon realized that the community had changed. The old and
stable power structure was based on a strong clergy and a very ancient
monarchistic
regime; but a strengthened commercial bourgeoisie had
grafted itself on top of it, and a new petite bourgeoisie was now emerging,
composed of intellectuals and of young people who had been educated
in the Indian education system. Adopting as yet unknown political
paths, these new actors are fueled by the development of tourist entrepreneurship.
Both their business success and modernization
have contributed to their gaining the seats of power, whereas tradition would
have dictated that they wait their turn before taking the place left to
them by the elders whenever judged appropriate. Such novelties generate a growing concern among the traditional upholders of local power.
In an attempt to understand the part played by the developing tourist entrepreneurs
in this sociopolitical context, a more attentive analysis of its concrete basis is proposed. This approach to the city of Leh
applies the analytic grid of formal/informal sectors.
Informal
Sector Enterprises
in Leh
612
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
JEAN MICHAUD
613
614
SOCIAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
of the Entrepreneurs
615
JEAN MICHAUD
E
X
0
INFORMAL
PORNAL
ciotel mmagers
a
E
N
0
"
S
E
N
D
0
0
E
N
0
u
s
Travel
agents
Self-eaployed
SGWBSIR
souvenir businesspeople
in boutiquea
INOPENUR
N. P. PETITE
GUEST
SECHOL
BOURGSOISIR:
AND LEDEG
STALLS
ilOUSl&3 OWNERS
TRADITIONAL
TRADBRS
IANDOWNBRS:
guides
BUSISESSPSGPLB
SHALL SCALE
RSSTAURANTOWNERS
ARISTOCRACY
- CLERGY
- HERCHANT BOURGEOISIE
- caravaneer bourgeoisie
SNALL
SEW-ESPLOYED
ENTREPRENEVRS:
- GUIDES
- DRIVERS
- VARIOUS SELF-EHPL.
616
SOCIAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
JEAN MICHAUD
617
618
SOCIAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
OF TOURISM
nomic struggle provokes the weakening and eventually the disappearance of many informal enterprises (in this case, the small-scale businesses and traditional
restaurant
services).
This would be to the
advantage of formal sector enterprises that swallow and digest them
and incessantly spread their influence. In a strictly economic perspective shared by these authors and those they criticize, that is all that
can be asserted.
By adding cultural variables (i.e., the endogenous
or exogenous
origin of entrepreneurs
combined with their religious orientation),
it
has become clear that small-scale businesses in Ladakh are being weakened, despite the fact that traditional elites and the new petite bourgeoisie
advocate an alliance among natives with the objective of saving their
cultural identity and limiting outside power. Exogenous Muslims operating formal enterprises are not very affected by protective actions,
but small-scale entrepreneurs
and endogenous restaurant owners are
paying a price that is increasingly high. The conclusion that imposes
itself to the analysts mind is that, consciously or not, local elites are
actually subordinating
the promotion
of a native takeover of businesses - and the preservation of their cultural identity that could stem
from this takeoversecond to the promotion of economic ties with the
formal sector exogenous entrepreneurs.
This attitude could lead to the
demotion of the informal sector enterprises that are too busy competing
with each other to realize the long-term danger inherent in this reciprocal noncollaboration.
These additional factors indicate that the scope of the subject is far
richer than that provided by the mere application
of an economic
model which is still the dominant trend in tourism research. This study
reveals some social foundations and political consequences of economic
dynamics; it shows both the economic activities involved and the power
and class struggles between those vying to benefit from tourism. In
this context, the essential question of the role of the state as a protective
agent for small-scale economic activities can fruitfully be brought out,
including its composition,
the influences it is subjected to, and the
interests that feed it and to which it answers. In this vein, the debate
about reciprocal preeminence
of class and ethnic phenomena in political economy is still very persuasive (Balibar and Wallerstein
1988;
McAll 1990). This debate is at the center of the question of the development of enterprises in the Third World and of its impact on the local
balance of power. It certainly can stimulate research on the expansion
of the global tourist industry and its consequences
on local communities (the author is presently undertaking a similar analysis of tourism
in communities in northern Thailand).
In any case, such an alternative
should at least prove to have a wider scope and a greater depth than
that provided by perspectives strictly oriented around the economy.
EPILOGUE
Most of the data used for this article were collected in 1988, 1 year
before the beginning of a still active political unrest-the
author is
reluctant to designate this unrest as religious, a widespread term in the
Indian Press. Direct intervention by kashmiri armed police led to the
JEAN
MICHAUD
619
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