Tourism and ethnicity: The brotherhood of coconuts

This paper relates the impact of tourism development in the coastal area of Malindi, Kenya, to the stimulation and negotiation of ethnic conflict within the host community. The thesis is that tourism acts as a catalyst for the re-interpretation of identity among members of the local community who depend on or are otherwise affected by the industry and its many businesses. One implication is that the observed inter-ethnic relationships within this community should be understood as having been mitigated by tourism. A further implication is that the tourist contact may result in unforeseen outcomes that may or may not favor further tourism development.