Caribbean Bodies of Global Desire: Tourism and Eroticism in Contemporary Cinema

Abstract

Tourism is a crucial economic sector in many Caribbean nations and the primary channel for direct interaction between the local population and visitors from around the world. Although not typically recognized in official statistics, Caribbean bodies effectively transform into a tourist attraction that supports the livelihoods of low-income families and makes a significant contribution to the domestic economy of the islands. Through an analysis of films set in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba, this article debates the intricate connections between pleasure economies, traditional gender roles, and familial structures, while it challenges the prevailing victim-victimizer narrative and provides a multifaceted perspective on sex tourism. Access by first-world tourists to international mobility and foreign currency creates a power imbalance in their interactions with Caribbean individuals. This imbalance worsens existing disparities related to gender, race, and age. In this context, selected films are examined as examples of the deconstruction of conventional narratives of erotic commodification in the Caribbean, depicting sex and tourism as a multifactorial issue that serves both to fight and deepen power structures.