The papasi of Zanzibar represent an informal group of young, semi-employed men who hover at the margins of the tourism industry and attempt to 'court' Western women in hope of securing a work visa to Europe or North America. The author's fieldwork, based on participant observation of the papasi lifestyle in the year 2000, contributes valuable insights into the significance of this group. Through a focus on recent definitions of agency as self-authoring behavior, this study demonstrates the ways that understanding of agency has been transformed by embracing the global forms of entertainment culture newly available to the formerly agrarian socialist island. The roots of papasi activity in local and global imaginative forms is discussed through a consideration of the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial historical economy. Firsthand interviews and observation of Zanzibari men and the Western women they dated or married allow for a very intimate analysis of the role of emotions in agentive behavior among these young men. This study also contributes an ethnographic insight into the polarized political situation on Zanzibar with firsthand reference to conditions surrounding the October 2000 election and its aftermath, considering the role that papasi political behavior plays in that context. An appendix, a glossary and a bibliography are included