Behind the Smile: The Working Lives of Caribbean Tourism

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Racism and discrimination: the major theme that emerges in Gmelch’s book
Examples to support the theme in the anthropology
The class concept as illustrated in Gmelch’s book
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

George Gmelch takes an interesting view of tourism, not as done by most others. When tourism is discussed, the tendency is to focus on the physical attributes of the destination: clean beaches, glorious sunsets, breathtaking scenery- or on the tourists themselves. There is very little attention paid to the locals who are normally the same people acting as taxi drivers, chefs, hotel maids, beach boys, hotel managers, porters, and waiters/waitresses. This group is normally relegated to the background. Gmelch has taken it upon himself to interview and record the experiences of twenty-one of these workers and hence, shed light on how they react to their foreign visitors and how these visitors impact their lives.

The format used by Gmelch is to divide the interviews into five broad categories as the five major work areas in which the locals would encounter the tourists namely at the airport, the hotel, at the beach, and lastly by taking points from the government.

Racism and discrimination: the major theme that emerges in Gmelch’s book

A major theme that emerges subtly from Gmelch’s book, I believe, is that of racism and discrimination. This is because of the attitudes that most first-time visitors have towards the natives, seeing them as backward and uncivilized and more often than not, as being just the means to achieve their pleasures.

Examples to support the theme in the anthropology

The workers at the airport are the ones who get to see the incoming tourists at their worst because apart from the newcomers being frazzled with jetlag, the heat that they may be unaccustomed to, and being subjected to long cues, most still hold on to the misconceptions they have formed or heard about the country they are about to visit.

As explained by one interviewee who works at the currency exchange counter, some visitors expect an attitude of obeisance and servitude from the locals. It throws them off balance when they find it is not so and they may resort to making callous remarks about the inferiority of the black man, slavery, and colonialism (pg 51). Such negative attitudes indicate the low esteem in which some tourists hold the local blacks, a sign of racism.

It is easier when the tourists are leaving because they have experienced Barbados and loved it, and most only have pleasant memories to take home (pg. 51).

At the hotels where the tourists stay, some workers experience derision from the visiting tourists, having to put up with their crude behavior. Though most workers are not aware of it, their visitors do things that they would not do within their own homes, such as living damp towels and rubbish for the cleanup crew to come and pick up. Sheralyn, a hotel maid, says that the visitors can be very messy but they have to clean up without complaint (pg 67). It means that the tourists have very little respect for those who come in after them.

Initially, the workers tend to shy away from the tourists because they are so ‘different’; they talk differently and they even walk differently (pg 191). The workers are afraid that communicating with the tourists may be difficult hence at first they hesitate. But with time, they get used to this and build enough confidence to chat with them (pg. 191).

Though workers who interact with tourists generally find them agreeable, what puts them off is those visitors who are ignorant and/or snobbish. An interviewed beach vendor said that what puts him off are those tourists who say that before their visit, they had never had of Barbados, then go ahead to ask all sorts of questions that should have been common knowledge (pg. 191). It irritates him that such tourists expect a barbaric uncivilized place with ‘…people running around with a cloth about de waist’ (pg 191). For taxi driver Trevor Mapp, being asked if the island has running water and television is an occurrence that he has to occasionally put up with.

The class concept as illustrated in Gmelch’s book

The class concept does emerge very clearly in this anthropology. The locals and the tourists are two very different sets of people, starting right from how the latter treat the former down to the lifestyle of the visitors when they are in the country as compared to that of the locals. Because the tourists have the money, they also have the power thus the differential treatment. They eat the best foods, use the best transport and luxury hotels, and experience a lifestyle that a local may never get to enjoy. There is an apparent division of class with the tourists coming out on top. The tourists also get away with things that a Barbadian would never dream of doing such as walking around semi-nude in bikinis.

One thing that is apparent, from Gmelch’s interviews, is the envy that the local feel towards the seemingly affluent tourists who are openly willing to flaunt their money. What the locals do not grasp, as explained by one interviewee, is that these seemingly carefree individuals have saved for a whole year, if not a lifetime, to be able to afford a week’s pleasure away from their humdrum existence (pg. 33). Most locals assume that the life of luxury the tourists live while on holiday is the same one they have abroad.

This, as observed by Gmelch, may have a negative impact in the sense that as Barbadians strive to imitate the lavish lifestyles of their guests, using them as benchmarks of how one is supposed to live, they may strain their already overburdened financial ropes (pg. 33).

The sum of it is that unlike in other service sectors, the interaction between the tourist and the local worker normally goes above and beyond the impersonal, uninvolved level. As an interviewed bartender put it, in the hospitality industry one has to ‘…be friendly and speak properly.’ Giving the traits of a good bartender he says that one has to be ‘…a therapist, counselor, pimp, lover man, ambassador, and even a bush doctor’ (pg 72).

He is speaking for all the workers serving tourists in Barbados, whether they be clearance officials, money changers, taxi drivers, receptionists, hotel managers, beach boys, or tour guides.

Conclusion

In every society, tourism has its negative and positive impacts. The Caribbean island of Barbados is no exception. While the locals may benefit from the foreign currencies brought in by the tourists that are not all the gain from their foreign visitors. They learn more about the cultures of these people; they get a world perspective, albeit a narrower one. For some, dealing with international tourists gives them confidence, for others, it gives them an aspiration to live better lives. All in all, whether the tourists know it or not, they leave their marks on the lives of the Barbados locals who serve them with such sincere steadfast smiles.

Works Cited

Gmelch, George. Behind the smile: the Working Lives of Caribbean Tourism. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2003. Print.

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