This thesis analyzes community-based tourism on the island of Marajó, led by the coastal
communities of Caju-una, Céu and Pesqueiro, in the municipality of Soure, which are part of
the Soure Marine Extractive Reserve, in an attempt to understand how local communities are
appropriating tourism. The objective is to understand how this way of developing tourism can
contribute to the endogenous development and autonomy of these communities. To achieve
this analysis and understanding, the following specific objectives are: identifying community
tourism experiences on Marajó Island, as a collective social practice; analyze the forms of
local organization for the development of community-based tourism, the agents and activities
involved in the process; characterize the profiles of tourists/visitors and analyze the
socialization processes of these tourist experiences and the connections with the tourist trade;
and problematize public policies related to tourism on the Island. The analysis of communitybased
tourism practices was based on the principles of endogenous development, which
values local resources and the participation of communities in the development process, and
post-development, which questions traditional notions of development, bringing centrality and
resistance of the place. The research also considered the perspectives of decoloniality, buen
vivir and ecosocioeconomy, which propose a non-Eurocentric and more holistic view of
development, considering power relations and the worldviews of local communities. The
research is of an applied nature, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, with exploratory,
descriptive and explanatory objectives, and bibliographical research procedures, field
research and action research. The research results pointed to the emergence of an embryonic
process of tourism in Marajó that takes place based on local initiatives, which despite the
problems and limitations it presents, have generated socioeconomic benefits for communities,
in contrast to the exclusionary conventional tourism model that has been occurring for
decades in Marajó. The results of the thesis will contribute to the understanding of communitybased
tourism practices on the island of Marajó and to reflection on fairer and more
democratic development alternatives, considering local specificities and the communities
perspectives.
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