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<\/a>When most people look at Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles, they see a beautiful getaway from the mainland\u2019s bustling city life. However, when Kaytee Canfield looks at the popular tourist destination, she sees a history of injustice faced by many island residents whose lives are vastly different from those of tourists.<\/p>\nIt is one of the reasons she decided to pursue a Ph.D in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS). \u201cI realized I wanted to help people and the environment in a more direct way and thought the social sciences were the best way to do that\u201d, says Canfield.<\/p>\n
A second-generation Californian, Catalina Island has always been at the forefront of Canfield\u2019s mind as she pursued bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from the University of Southern California in Environmental Studies. Her research focused on resource partitioning among mammals on the island, a scientific term that describes the division of limited resources by species to help avoid competition within an ecosystem. Although she initially focused on the ecology of the island, Canfield was left wondering \u201cWhat about the people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Canfield\u2019s research in CELS calls attention to the fact that although islands like Catalina Island seem enticing and luxurious to tourists, many of the people who call these places home are frequently marginalized. Much like the rest of California, the 4,000-year round residents of Catalina struggle with available water resources. Many times, those water resources are diverted to the island\u2019s tourist activities, according to Canfield, leaving little for the locals who work at these establishments.<\/p>\n
Using the connections she developed on the island through her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s experiences, she conducted interviews and surveys with community members, ensuring that the questions she was asking were the ones the community was interested in having answered. She also traveled back in time through archival documents to get a fuller perspective of how living on the island has transformed over the past century. \u201cFor me, it is important to center on the lived experiences of these residents\u201d, says Canfield. \u201cI want to ensure that I am telling stories a way that helps reiterate the stories they are trying to have heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canfield says research on the negative impacts of tourism on island residents typically focuses on countries that are generally viewed as \u201cunderprivileged,\u201d geographic locations Canfield describes as the \u201cGlobal South.\u201d The term describes the historical geographical divide between developing countries in places like Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the Global South, and wealthier nations in Europe, Oceania, and North America, the Global North. \u201cPeople don\u2019t think of Global North destinations as places where the type of economic disparities seen on Catalina Island occur,\u201d says Canfield. She wanted to explore how and why marginalization typically found in less developed countries could happen in a destination like Catalina.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what attracted her to the University of Rhode Island. It is the only university in the country with a Ph.D program in Marine Affairs. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to feel pigeonholed into a certain disciplinary approach. The interdisciplinary nature of the Marine Affairs program, combined with its coastal and marine focus just made sense to me\u201d, says Canfield. \u201cThere is never just one way to interpret something in the social sciences, which is the way I think people actually live their lives and how the world actually works.”<\/p>\n
Canfield\u2019s research found that the social justice aspect of tourism development has global implications.\u00a0 She says many \u201cparadise\u201d destinations in different parts of the world experience environmental and social injustices similar to Catalina Island. \u201cTourists get to leave at the end of their trip, those who work in the hotels or guide your tours do not\u201d, says Canfield about the visibility of these issues. \u201cIt\u2019s helpful for tourists to get a better understanding of the lives of those who live and work where you vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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