Tourism in a Rural Ugandan Village: Impacts, Local Meaning and Implications for Development
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TOURISM IN A RURAL UGANDAN VILLAGE: IMPACTS, LOCAL MEANING AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT By ANDREW PAUL LEPP A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2004 Copyright 2004 by Andrew Paul Lepp ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I thank my Mother and Father for their love and support which never failed to reach me no matter how far I traveled from home. I thank my beautiful wife Josephine whose patience and loving ways keep me going strong. I thank my brother, Aaron, and longtime friend Morgan, for their positive influences on my life. I thank my family in Uganda, and in particular Zebiah Sempala, for always providing a comfortable home. Each of them deserves credit for my success. I thank those people at the University of Florida who worked hand in hand with me to see this project through to completion. I thank Dr. Stephen Holland for chairing my committee, for friendship and thoughtful guidance. I thank Dr. Heather Gibson for taking such interest in my academic development that she traveled to Uganda to see this project firsthand. I thank Dr. Brijesh Thapa, Dr. John Confer and Dr. Barbara McDade for their valuable insight and contributions. I thank the Fulbright Program for generously funding this research and for making cross-cultural educational experiences possible. There are many more people deserving of thanks, and in truth, an extra chapter should be given to the cause. Topping this list is Dr. Arthur Mugisha whose friendship attracted me to the University of Florida so many years ago and whose knowledge always informs my studies. Finally, I thank the people of Bigodi Village who welcomed me into their homes, shared their stories and demonstrated so wonderfully that we are indeed all brothers and sisters here together. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 Research Questions.....................................................................................................12 Delimitations and Limitations ....................................................................................13 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................................14 Tourism Development and Residents’ Attitudes........................................................15 Economic Impacts and Dependency...........................................................................19 Socio-Cultural Impacts ...............................................................................................25 Socio-Environmental Impacts ....................................................................................32 Self Reliance and Community Development .............................................................38 Local Meanings for Tourism ......................................................................................43 3 RESEARCH METHODS ...........................................................................................49 Rationale.....................................................................................................................50 Setting.........................................................................................................................52 Data Collection and Analysis .....................................................................................57 Sampling..............................................................................................................57 Interviewing.........................................................................................................60 Participant Observation and informal conversation ............................................62 Analysis ...............................................................................................................63 Reliability and Validity...............................................................................................65 iv 4 ANALYSIS.................................................................................................................68 An Introduction to Bigodi...........................................................................................69 The Recent History of Bigodi.....................................................................................74 The Creation of Tourism ............................................................................................90 From Hunters to Hosts: Bigodi Changes with Tourism ...........................................102 Residents’ Attitudes about Tourism .........................................................................115 Negative Attitudes.............................................................................................115 Positive Attitudes...............................................................................................120 Tourism’s Meaning in Bigodi...................................................................................129 5 DISCUSSION...........................................................................................................148 Tourism Development in a Tourism Void................................................................148 Tourism’s Costs and Benefits in Bigodi...................................................................151 Deconstruction of Meaning ......................................................................................165 Conservation......................................................................................................165 Bazungu Dependency........................................................................................169 Explaining Bazungu Dependency .....................................................................172 The Social Psychology of Development ...........................................................181 Modeling Tourism Development in Bigodi ......................................................184 6 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................191 Summary of Major Findings.....................................................................................192 Conclusions...............................................................................................................202 Implications ..............................................................................................................207 Future Research ........................................................................................................211 Epilogue:...................................................................................................................213 LIST OF REFERENCES.................................................................................................217 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...........................................................................................229 v LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 Bigodi respondents’ alias, gender, life stage and occupation ..................................61 5-1 Context of tourism’s meaning in Bigodi ................................................................180 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 1-1 Map of Uganda...........................................................................................................2 1-2 Map of Uganda’s national parks ................................................................................6 1-3 Bigodi’s location in relation to Kibale National Park ..............................................11 3-1 Bigodi in relation to Kibale National Park...............................................................53 3-2 Monthly visitation for Kibale NP and KAFRED for 2001 - 2003...........................55 4-1 A Map of Bigodi drawn by a boy from the village. .................................................71 4-2 The road through Kibale NP and some common wayfarers. ...................................73 4-3 The KAFRED headquarters in Bigodi. ..................................................................100 4-4 KAFRED’s boardwalk through the Bigodi swamp................................................101 4-5 The Bigodi Senior Secondary School – compliments of KAFRED. .....................102 4-6 The Bigodi Women’s Groups’ original canteen at Kibale NP...............................105 4-7 Backpacker heaven – an inexpensive room at the Safari Lodge............................110 4-8 The Bigodi Women’s Group’s new canteen at Kibale NP.....................................113 4-9 Tourists gazing upon the avian bounty of Bigodi’s swamp ...................................114 4-10 Brick buildings under construction in Bigodi’s trading center. .............................132 5-1 Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs......................................................................182 5-2 Social psychological hierarchy of community