Consuming the Caribbean: Tourism, Sex Tourism, and Land Development in Nicole Dennis-Benn's Here Comes the Sun

Abstract

In Here Comes the Sun (2016), Nicole Dennis-Benn explores the impact of structural inequalities within the space of a fictional vacation resort. Drawing on recent scholarship on the relationship between landscape and power, the function of racial-sexual economies in the Caribbean, and the construction of the Caribbean picturesque, this artide argues that sexual exploitation and environmental devastation operate as parallel forces in the text. The article examines how Dennis-Benn depicts tourism and sex tourism as industries that reinforce local and global racial and economic power relations. The essay contends that Dennis-Benn positions the protagonist and her supervisor as perpetrators as well as beneficiaries of extractive and exclusionary practices; homophobia, hotel development, and sexual, environmental, and labor exploitation render the town of River Bank a paradise for tourists and a space of trauma for the majority of residents.