maspulung’s sanctuary

Ignatius P. Cahyanto (PI)
Lori Pennington-Gray (Co-PI)

Funded by The Center for Tourism Research and Development, University of Florida 2007

     The purpose of this research was to better understand rural Indonesian culture as a means of developing tourism. The study was conducted in the village of Sambi, Indonesia, in June-July, 2007. Three objectives were addressed in this study. The first objective was to explore the meaning of local culture as held by local residents. The second objective was to present themes of what residents desired to share with tourists. The last objective was to provide information gained from the identified themes to the decision makers in the village of Sambi, with the goal of promulgating local tourism development.
     This study was framed with four interrelated research questions: (1) What does Sambi’s culture mean to the people of Sambi? (2) What do the people of Sambi want to share with visitors about their culture? (3) What do the people of Sambi want to hide about their culture from visitors? (4) How do the people of Sambi choose to negotiate themes; which they want to show to visitors and themes that they want to hide from visitors?
     To address the aforementioned research questions, the study employed a reflexive photography method. Twenty-eight residents were issued single use cameras and were asked to take pictures of things, places, people, or anything else that deemed important to them in their village. The photographs were developed and interviews were conducted to elicit information. Data analysis used both photographs and quotes from photo-elicitation interviews. The study used an inductive thematic approach to analyze the data.
     Four major findings were found with regards to the research questions. First, two major themes emerged when participants discussed the meaning of their local culture namely, agricultural village and ritual-tradition. Second, there were six major themes that participants desired to share with visitors i.e. rural way of life, environmental features, built structures, people, art and festivals, and animals. Third, the themes, which some participants wanted to share with visitors, were also the ones they desired to hide. Fourth, participants employed two strategies, time and space alteration, in negotiating themes that they wanted to share and not to share with visitors. These strategies provided room for creative maneuvering in the presentation of the cultural landscape of the village of Sambi.
     The study concluded that reflexive photography could be a powerful tool for tourism planning, especially in rural areas. It was also suggested that the development of tourism in the village of Sambi should be based on the identified themes as well as retention of the authenticity of the themes. This strategy would increase residents’ level of support toward tourism development and maximize benefits for residents of Sambi. Finally, further research in tourism studies using visual methodology was recommended.

~ by maspulung on March 19, 2008.