Freie Universität Berlin

The Split is a gap between the northern and the southern part of Caye Caulker, the Belizean island where I conduct ethnographic research, and it apparently was created by a hurricane and was then made bigger by fishermen who thus had a shorter way to the gas station. The Split is now the most northern part of the tourist hub and it is a beautiful place to swim, to watch the sunset and to have a drink at a bar called The Lazy Lizard. Interestingly, although it is a very touristy spot, it is also a place where locals hang out. It represents the fact that on Caye Caulker, although places like The Split seem to suggest that there are boundaries between those who hang out in expensive bars and those who do not, social boundaries are very hard to grasp and it is therefore difficult to define their links to linguistic boundaries.

The distinction between locals and non-locals is very blurred. It reminds me to a certain extent of urban spaces, where people from many language backgrounds have become part of the normal make-up – which nowadays not only includes languages of ‘poor’ immigrants but also of more wealthy (white?) people, typically called ‘expats’ . The dividing line that I feel to be the strongest is that between US/European tourists and expats (who are not necessarily ‘white’ – the owner of one of the poshest hotels, for example, is US-American with Filipino background) and local people. However, even though there are clear differences, it is not so easy. There are also many local tourists, for example rich people from Belize City who come for the weekend. And then there are also people from the US with Belizean heritage who come as tourists. Finally, a lot of the local people who live here hang out or have partners with people from Europe or the US. The division of tourist versus local thus exists but it is not necessarily dependent on nationality, skin colour or ethnicity. It depends on social practices and on the places one attends.

Der Beitrag wurde am Dienstag, den 31. März 2015 um 15:18 Uhr von Britta Schneider veröffentlicht und wurde unter Blog abgelegt. Sie können die Kommentare zu diesem Eintrag durch den RSS 2.0 Feed verfolgen. Sie können einen Kommentar schreiben, oder einen Trackback auf Ihrer Seite einrichten.