Description
Book SynopsisAfrica is a 'theme park' for Western tourists to experience untouched wilderness, untamed nature, and truly 'authentic' cultures, where the hosts, too, are part of a discourse about the 'other' and ourselves, about wildness, danger and roots. Tourism is important for Africa: international tourist arrivals to Africa continue to grow, income from tourism is crucial to national economies, and tourism investments are considered among the most profitable. This edited volumedeals with the interaction of local communities with tourists coming into their areas and villages. Based upon a common theoretical approach, fourteen cases of African tourism are discussed which involve direct contact between 'hosts' and 'guests'. The viewpoint throughout is from the side of the locals, establishing how the processes of interaction shape each small scale destination. Crucial in Africa is the fact that the large majority of tourism is game oriented and the interaction between locals and visitors is very much 'tainted' by this fact. Central is the notion of the tourist bubble - the infrastructure that is generated locally (and internationally) for hosting tourists, as it is this institutional interface that tends to impact on the local society and culture, not the tourists themselves directly. The examples come from all over Africa, from the Sahara to the Eastern Cape, and from Kenyato Ghana. All contributions are based upon original fieldwork. Walter van Beek is professor of anthropology at Tilburg University and Senior Researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden; Annette Schmidt is curatorof the African department at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, and is an archaeologist with a long experience in cultural management projects.
Trade ReviewHighly recommended. * AFRICA AFFAIRS *
A welcome addition to the growing field of tourism research in Africa [which will] provide insights for policy-makers to further consider the benefit-sharing formulas in host-guest relations in Africa, especially when aiming for poverty reduction by utilising the tourism industry as a tool. * JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM *
This collection of insightful essays on tourism in Africa makes a major contribution to the literature. . Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsForeword - Valene Smith African dynamics of cultural tourism - Walter E A Van Beek African dynamics of cultural tourism - PART I Culture, Identity & Tourism - Annette M. Schmidt To dance or not to dance: Dogon masks as a tourist arena - Walter E A Van Beek Semiotics & the political economy of tourism in the Sahara - Georg Klute 'How much for Kunta Kinte?!' Sites of memory & diasporan encounters in West Africa - Kim C. Warren 'How much for Kunta Kinte?!' Sites of memory & diasporan encounters in West Africa - Elizabeth MacGonagle Imitating heritage tourism: a virtual tour of Sekhukhuneland, South Africa - PART II At the Fringe of the Parks - Ineke van Kessel Hosts & guests: stereotypes & myths of international tourism in the Okavango Delta, Botswana - Joseph Mbaiwa Kom 'n bietjie kuier: Kalahari dreaming with the Khomani San - Kate Finlay and Shanade Barnabas Treesleeper camp: a case study of community tourism in Tsintsabis, Namibia - Stasja Koot 'The lion has become a cow': the Maasai hunting paradox - Vanessa Wijngaarden The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists & farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa - Shirley Brooks The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists & farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa - Marja Spierenburg The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists & farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa - PART III Intensive Contact - Harry Wels Backpacking in Africa - Ton van Egmond 'I'm not a tourist. I'm a volunteer': tourism, development & international volunteerism in Ghana - Eiliadh Swan Becoming 'real African kings & queens': chieftaincy, culture & tourism in Ghana - Marijke Steegstra Sex trade & tourism in Kenya: close encounters between the hosts & the hosted - Wanjohi Kibicho Host-guest encounters in a Gambian 'love' bubble - Lucy McCombes Afterword. Trouble in the bubble: comparing African tourism with the Andes trail - Annelou Ypeij
