Our Ancestors Used to Bury their 'Development' in the Ground: Modernity and the Meanings of Development within a Tanzanian Marine Park

Building upon critiques that suggest that the concept of alternative modernities may too readily slip into an easy pluralism, this article instead directs attention to competing uses of the concept of the "modern" within a single location. Linking ideas of the modern with those of "development," this article explores the disparate meanings given to development within Tanzania's internationally-sponsored Mafia Island Marine Park. It considers how the various perspectives of island residents, national government officials, and international aid workers/tourists relate to their own social positioning and carry implications for the power relationships at work among these groups [development, alternative modernities, Tanzania, marine parks, ecotourism]