“500 years of Columbus a lie, yet we survive!”: Kalinago revivalism, climate resilience, and ecotourism development in the Nature Isle

Abstract

The Commonwealth of Dominica pledged to become the world’s first climate-resilient country after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, with ecotourism being part of that sustainable development strategy. Ecotourism growth on the lush eastern Caribbean island has since surpassed pre-storm levels, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crucial to the government’s sustainable resilience strategy has been ethno-cultural tourism of the island’s Kalinago (Indigenous peoples of the Lesser Antilles) community such as handicraft instruction, food preparation, canoe building, Indigenous-led tours, and cultural entertainment centers. This article explores development of a comprehensive ecotourism industry in the Indigenous district of Kalinago Territory as a means toward economic sustainability in the Nature Isle with focus on Kalinago cultural producers and their ongoing contestations of Indigenous absence in the Caribbean through a framework of Indigenous Caribbean revival.