Close Encounters of the Third World

Abstract

First-time encounters pose a number of difficulties for participants. Then subsequent analysis is also problematic. The view is taken here that in order to understand the dynamics of the situation and its subsequent development it is necessary to focus on the various aspects of role imputation and its expressive counterparts of altercasting, role modification, presentation of self, and fantasy. These are applied to tourist-beachboy encounters in the Barbadian context of an overriding framework of Third World dependency on the metropolis. The ensuring relationships are characterized by qualities of assymetry, difference and mixed exchange. It is hoped that by investigating an extreme case of role disparity in terms of class, sex, race, and cultural differences a greater appreciation can be obtained of encounters with which we are more familiar.