Disempowering Minority Communities: Tourism Development in the Siwa Oasis, Egypt

ABSTRACT Tourism planning and development is a complex, multifaceted, and highly politicised phenomenon, particularly in the context of economic development for rural minority communities. This paper discusses such a case in the context of a remote rural community, Siwa Oasis in the western desert of Egypt, which was one of the destinations identified in the development policy termed Infitāḥ, or “openness” in the early 1970s. As part of a long-term project, this article examines how community members perceive tourism development and its effects on their livelihoods, specifically from gender perspective. Findings show that the government development policy in effect resulted resulted in Siwan seeking to protect their identity, including values associated with traditional gender relations, where women are considered to be the safeguards of domestic duties, child-raising, and minority languages, providing empirical evidence on how development can be “closing” rather than “opening” opportunities, disempowering rather than empowering.