ABSTRACT
Exploring the world of emotions and cultural expressions in a tourist locale in eastern Indonesia, this chapter looks at how various actors manipulate the presentation and understanding of cultural display. The chapter examines the presentation of violence in the display of an important cultural performance in western Flores, the gateway to the famed Komodo National Park, and compares the different meanings of the performance as it is understood by tourism workers, local community members, and its presentation in promotional material. With tourism developments in western Flores increasingly being controlled by people from outside the local area, local people struggle over how these emotionally and culturally important violent displays are presented and interpreted. This chapter explores the power and inequality associated with tourism imaginaries and the struggles over cultural representation and emotional understanding.
