The purpose of this inquiry is to explore the social construction of surfing tourist space in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia and to expand existing theory to explain the process by which tourist space comes to be overlaid upon the geographical and social domain of destination communities. A review of surfing tourism literature revealed a modest body of knowledge that was largely descriptive, and devoid of any clear theoretical and philosophical perspectives. In order to gain an understanding of the historicity in the production of surfing tourist space, a review of academic and popular surfing literature was undertaken. This review indicated the importance of commercial surf industry discourse, disseminated through a specialist surf media, in defining and maintaining an idealised surfing tourist space (labelled ‘Nirvana’), which is based on the search for, and consumption of, the ‘perfect wave’. A social constructionist interpretation of grounded theory was employed in order to collect and analyse observations and indepth interviews of surfing tourists, surf tour operators, surf industry and media representatives, and locals, from which a number of interpretations were drawn. Firstly, surfing tourist space – Nirvana - is a fragile and contested space based upon four symbolic elements: perfect waves; uncrowded conditions; cushioned adventure; and, a pristine tropical environment. A four-phase process (referred to as Nirvanification) was developed in order to interpret the way in which tourist space is overlaid upon the social and geographical domain of destinations. It is argued that this space is remotely constructed, highly symbolic, and ‘disembedded’ from local realities in the Mentawai Islands. Nirvanification revolves around the construction of symbolic elements of tourist space where it is threatened by alternative discourses, which the industry counters by deploying various myths. The ramification of Nirvanification for local communities in the Mentawais is marginalisation from the economic benefits from tourism. In conclusion this study identified channels for resistance and change which provide an alternative theoretical and philosophical position from which to question the assumptions that underlie socially constructed tourist space.

The purpose of this inquiry is to explore the social construction of surfing tourist space in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia and to expand existing theory to explain the process by which tourist space comes to be overlaid upon the geographical and social domain of destination communities. A review of surfing tourism literature revealed a modest body of knowledge that was largely descriptive, and devoid of any clear theoretical and philosophical perspectives. In order to gain an understanding of the historicity in the production of surfing tourist space, a review of academic and popular surfing literature was undertaken. This review indicated the importance of commercial surf industry discourse, disseminated through a specialist surf media, in defining and maintaining an idealised surfing tourist space (labelled ‘Nirvana’), which is based on the search for, and consumption of, the ‘perfect wave’. A social constructionist interpretation of grounded theory was employed in order to collect and analyse observations and indepth interviews of surfing tourists, surf tour operators, surf industry and media representatives, and locals, from which a number of interpretations were drawn. Firstly, surfing tourist space – Nirvana - is a fragile and contested space based upon four symbolic elements: perfect waves; uncrowded conditions; cushioned adventure; and, a pristine tropical environment. A four-phase process (referred to as Nirvanification) was developed in order to interpret the way in which tourist space is overlaid upon the social and geographical domain of destinations. It is argued that this space is remotely constructed, highly symbolic, and ‘disembedded’ from local realities in the Mentawai Islands. Nirvanification revolves around the construction of symbolic elements of tourist space where it is threatened by alternative discourses, which the industry counters by deploying various myths. The ramification of Nirvanification for local communities in the Mentawais is marginalisation from the economic benefits from tourism. In conclusion this study identified channels for resistance and change which provide an alternative theoretical and philosophical position from which to question the assumptions that underlie socially constructed tourist space.

Globally, coral reefs are in severe decline (Jackson et al., 2001) and face potential extinction of 1/3 of reef species by 2050 (Veron, 2011). This decline is the result of the inability of coral communities to recover after disturbance events, often resulting in a shift from coral- to macro-algal dominated regimes. Reef resources managers are in need of tools to assess the condition of these ecosystems prior to, during, and post disturbance, especially in regions of the world where coral cover and diversity are high, yet management resources are scarce. Foraminifera have been widely utilized as bioindicators in both modern and paleoenvironments for more than a century due to their abundance, diverse functional morphology, rapid generation time, global distribution, and rich geologic record (Sen Gupta, 1999; Hallock et al., 2003). The FoRAM Index (FI) was developed as a single metric indicator to assess whether water quality supports coral recruitment and reproduction in Caribbean and Western Atlantic coral reefs (Hallock et al., 2003), yet the FI has not been widely applied to Indo-Pacific coral reefs. This study reports benthic foraminiferal assemblages from Pulau Karangmadjat, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia, and is the first to provide in situ foraminiferal assemblages for the Mentawai region. Results revealed overall low Shannon’s H’ and Fisher’s alpha, and low Buzas and Gibson’s evenness values across 13 sample sites selected from a variety of reef habitat zones. Values for the FI were also calculated and were extremely high across all sites due to the dominance of symbiont-bearing calcarinid taxa, suggesting favorable water quality conditions. Q-mode hierarchical cluster analysis revealed 4 clusters, only one of which corresponded in its entirety to a well defined benthic habitat zone. Overall, a high degree of similarity between foraminiferal assemblages was present for most sites sampled due to the dominance of calcarinids, suggesting prevalence of a macro-algal substrate, and potentially a shift from a coral- to macro-algal dominated regime for this study area. Utilization of indices like the FI, when used in conjunction with non-FI analysis of foraminiferal assemblages, may aid managers in deducing drivers of regime shifts on Indonesian coral reefs, which may ultimately facilitate solutions for reef conservation and recovery following natural and anthropogenic disturbance. Further testing of the applicability of the FI on Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific reefs is needed to in order to test this hypothesis. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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