Reconfiguring Local Power (Ethnographic Insights Into Multi-Actor Governance in the Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu UNESCO Global Geopark, Indonesia)

Resumen

Power relations in tourism governance often produce unequal outcomes, particularly in multi-actor settings where interests diverge. While collaborative governance is frequently promoted in tourism development, empirical evidence shows that participation does not always translate into equitable influence for local communities. This study examines how power is configured, negotiated, and reproduced among local communities, community organizations, government institutions, and private actors in the governance of the Ciletuh–Palabuhanratu UNESCO Global Geopark (CPUGG), Indonesia. Using an ethnographic approach, data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews with 40 tourism actors, and field documentation conducted in two phases of fieldwork. The findings reveal that community participation is often symbolic, shaped by dominant development narratives and administrative procedures that structure decision-making arenas. Power operates through multiple mechanisms, including agenda setting in governance forums, spatial control over strategic tourism areas, mobilization of communities through administrative programs, and the promotion of development discourses emphasizing professionalism and spatial order in tourism development. While community organizations create collective spaces for cooperation, they may also generate informal exclusions that limit outsider participation. At the same time, private actors supported by political networks and regulatory frameworks often dominate strategic investments and market access. These findings highlight that tourism governance in CPUGG is shaped not only by formal institutional arrangements but also by everyday negotiations of meaning, legitimacy, and control among competing actors revealing how participation can create spaces for collective agency while simultaneously reproducing unequal relations of power.