Abstract
Beaches are often "sites of struggle" (Lefebvre, 1991; Urry, 1995) in mass tourism as well as in destinations off the beaten track. That is also the case of the remote west coast of the island Sumba in Eastern Indonesia.
While beaches are seen as taboo spaces for local communities, tourists and mainly surfers perceive them as spaces of play. In addition to that, these localities are treated as future investments for many non-Sumbanese.
Moreover, beaches were the inputs of foreigners who came to Sumba with the intent to obtain slaves in the 18th and 19th century and the imaginary of a foreigner coming to kidnap local people is still very present in contemporary Sumbanese folklore. This paper will attempt to give insight into the contradictions as well as coexistence and everyday negotiation of different images of Sumbanese beach.