ABSTRACT
Ethnodevelopment and ethnic groups are intellectual constructs, and as constructs or concepts they are only useful if they help to explain certain social, cultural, economic and political phenomena and processes in a globalising world. In the case of ethnodevelopment people are usually concerned with marginal populations or those communities usually thought about in traditional and popular parlance as 'tribal' or 'minority' within the context of modern nation-states, and those which are relatively poor and deprived and require economic support, education and resources. Tourism in the Vale do Paraiba focuses not on the role and contribution of the former 'dominated' black slave population there and its cultural heritage but on the 'dominant' landowners and political elite of European origin. Thus ethnodevelopment as a strategy within the context of heritage tourism to promote ethnic resilience and welfare is yet to be achieved there.
