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Rough Waters: Nature and Development in an East African Marine Park
By Christine J. Walley
Princeton University Press, 2004
Rough Waters challenges contemporary accounts of globalization through an in-depth ethnographic exploration of conflict at the heart of a new type of international conservation and development project. The Mafia Island Marine Park was the first national park within Tanzania to focus on the marine environment and to encourage both development and the participation of area residents. This analysis examines the sources of conflict over Mafia's park as it emerged among island residents, Tanzanian government officials, and representatives of international organizations. Building upon a range of academic disciplines including cultural anthropology, it explores the very different meanings that these groups attribute to "nature," "development," and "participation." Ultimately, this book concludes that the theoretical framework of globalization is inadequate for understanding contemporary social and environmental conflict. Instead, this account problematizes the relationship between the global, national and local and seeks to emphasize the historically rich "patchwork" quality of daily life.