Social distance between local residents and African-American expatriates in the context of Ghana's slavery-based heritage tourism (original) (raw)
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"They come with preconceived minds": The negotiation and contestation of diaspora tourism in Ghana
This thesis explores diaspora tourism in Ghana, in which the descendants of slaves that were taken from Africa across the Atlantic during the trans-Atlantic slave trade “return” to Ghana to rediscover their African heritage. Specifically, it examines how Ghanaian individuals that are implicated in tourism construct, navigate, and contest diaspora tourism and their relationship with individuals from the diaspora. This research is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from July until September 2013 at various sites and events related to the activities of the diaspora, focused particularly on the slave trade forts and a Pan-African festival, Panafest. It is argued that the relationship between Ghanaians and the diaspora is ridden with tensions, especially regarding narratives of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the relationship to sites and events related to the slave trade.
"Find Their Level": African American Roots Tourism in Sierra Leone and Ghana
In many “developing” and post-conflict African nations, cultural tourism has been touted as a vital source of foreign exchange revenue for jumpstarting national development. This trend has led to a scramble in Africa by African state officials seeking to “package” their nations in order to attract the patronage of Diasporan “returnees”— descendants of the Middle Passage who travel to Africa in search of cultural and historical “roots”. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the planning and execution of national “packaging” frequently bypasses the ordinary citizen. Thus the official agenda of these nation states is sometimes at odds with the aspirations of local citizens and pan-African sojourners. Moreover, this trend has contributed to considerable conceptual slippage and, consequently, vociferous debates over the meaning of and criteria for asserting Africanness. In other instances, these conjunctures have transformed and enhanced received notions of African identity. An ethnographic comparison of a developing nation (Ghana) and a post-conflict nation (Sierra Leone) can both deepen and complicate our understandings of this emerging pan-African phenomenon and its attendant possibilities and limitations. We consider how these complimentary and conflicting interests, beliefs, and practices converge to shape novel modes of pilgrimage, nationhood, transnational dialogue, and globalization.
Strangers and Migrants in African Societies: a conceptual and historical overview
Classifies and conceptualizes three main types of social inclusion/exclusion in African societies: a. Swallowing (anthrophophagic) societies – certain agricultural, kingdom and refugee states; b. Parallel or alternating societies – the intermediate case, covering the appearance of ghettos and oscillating migrant labour; c. Vomiting out (anthropoemic) societies – covering post-colonial state formation and the globalizing cities
RETURN MIGRANTS AND THE CHALLENGE OF REINTEGRATION: THE CASE OF RETURNEES TO KUMASI, GHANA.
2014
This paper describes the nature of migrants’ return to Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, and the strategies employed by the returnees to establish links with their relatives and friends, as well reintegrate into their neighbourhoods, and participate fully in city life. Using interviews and observations carried out among 30 return migrants and some migrant associations, the paper concludes that return migration is a negotiated process among family members. Migrants face several challenges including finding accommodation and jobs, establishing contacts with former colleagues and friends, meeting the high expectations of extended family members, and adjusting to the poor infrastructural facilities in the city. Return migrants are able to surmount these difficulties with support from family members, friends, colleagues, and a host of social organizations and networks. Source: Setrana, Mary B. and Tonah, Steve 2014, Return Migrants and the Challenge of Reintegration: The Case of Returnees to Kumasi, Ghana, A Journal of African Migration, 7th Issue: 113-142, http://www.africamigration.com/ .
Gateway to Africa : the pilgrimage tourism of diaspora Africans to Ghana
2010
during the 2003-04 academic year. I arrived in Cape Coast just before PANAFEST 2001 began and had to hit the ground running. My research assistant, host, and friend, Paa Kwesi Sampson, had been directly involved with the planning and execution of previous PANAFESTs in his role as a cultural officer for the K.E.E.A. (Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Afbrem) district branch of the Center for National Culture. Paa Kwesi's wife, Philo, accompanied me to PANAFEST and Emancipation Day events, where we informally chatted with festival attendees and were ourselves participant-observers. Paa Kwesi, Philo, and their children (Yaya, Mommie, and Jo-jo) not only invited me to live in their home, but also eventually adopted me into their family. I appreciate their kindness, companionship, hard work, and sacrifice that everyone so unselfishly offered during my stay with them. Upon my arrival, Paa Kwesi arranged for me to meet some of the key figures for PANAFEST 2001. I was grateful for the opportunity to attend a coordinating meeting of the PANAFEST planning committee, where I first met the PANAFEST Executive Director, resident African American, and member of the African Hebrew faith-Rabbi Nathanya Halevi Kohain. He gave me permission to videotape the public events of PANAFEST 2001. Rabbi Kohain and several other local African Americans graciously granted me interviews, invited me into their homes, and made it possible for me to carry out this research. Paa Kwesi also introduced me to several Central Regional traditional chiefs, who have been influential in PANFEST, Emancipation Day, and tourism vi development. These chiefs welcomed my questions and detailed their specific roles and perspectives in pilgrimage tourism. My field assistants, Francis Aggrey and Fred Kissi-together with Paa Kwesi, and I-showed great patience and perseverance in administering surveys to nearly four hundred Cape Coast Ghanaians. These Cape Coasters generously spent countless hours answering our long list of questions about how much they participate in local tourism and what they think of pilgrimage tourism. I cannot thank you all individually by name, but please know that I appreciate your participation in my research. I want to thank Nana Ocran, Mr. Agbo, and the local management of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board for regarding me as a research intern and allowing me access to Cape Coast and Elmina castles' grounds and museums free of charge. The tour guides and museum educators at Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castles allowed me to tag along on many of their tours and ask them a battery of questions-thank you all! I want to especially thank James Anani Amemasor and Clifford Ato Eshun for helping me administer surveys to African and diaspora African visitors. Thanks also to Blankson for our many conversations, sharing of ideas, and encouraging me to assert my opinion. Tourism stakeholders in the Central Region-including representatives of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Ghana Tourist Board, Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust, and the Department of Geography and Tourism at the University of Cape Coast-were all very generous with their time in granting me interviews. In Accra, tour operators, past directors of PANAFEST, officials from the Ministry of Tourism, the director of the W.E.B. DuBois Centre, and one of the first African American migrants to vii Ghana to be granted Ghanaian citizenship all allowed me to interview them. To all of you, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks. While carrying out my fieldwork, I was affiliated with the Department of Geography of Tourism at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). There, I was permitted to review relevant masters' theses, share my research design and methodologies with professors and graduate students, and liaise with faculty, students, and staff. My departmental sponsor, Professor L.A. Dei, provided tourism citations and advice on managing research assistants. Kofi Nyarko, Edem Amenumey, Dr. Oheneba Akyeampong, Professor Jeurry Blankson, and Professor K. Awusabo-Asare offered constructive criticism of my research project. Dr. Nancy Lundgren, an anthropologist in UCC's Department of Sociology, not only offered anthropologically-informed methodological advice, but became my friend and unofficial advisor in the field. I appreciate the always cheerful assistance of Francis Annoh with UCC's Main Library in facilitating the photocopying of many newspaper articles. Several people on both sides of the Atlantic assisted with the transcription of interviews. Thanks especially to
Transforming Anthropology, 2002
Crossing Boundaries: Comparative History of Black People in Diaspora. Darlene Clark Hine and Jacqueline McLeod (eds.). Bloomington, IN, and London, UK: Indiana University Press, 1999. xxv+ 491 pp. (Cloth US$29.95)The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Isidore Okpewho. Carole Boyce Davies. and Ali A. Mazrui (eds.). Bloomington, IN, and London, UK: Indiana University Press, 1999. xxviii. 566 pp. (Cloth USS59.95)Globalization and Survival in the Black Diaspora: The New Urban Challenge. Charles Green (ed.). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997. xiv. 396 pp. (Cloth US$25.95)Lamentation: An Immigrant's Dilemma. Cyril J. Orji. Matawn, NJ: Azbock Publishing, 1999. 301pp. (Paper USS 19.95)
Roots tourism: a second wave of Double Consciousness for African Americans
2020
The African diaspora's 're-migration' to presumed homelands in Africa has been steadily gaining popularity. In fact, with the recent emergence of the Black Travel Movement, including organizations and companies that cater specifically towards Black travelers, the industry has seen a surge in travelers wanting to 'go back home'. This idea of returning to the homeland is permeated with symbolism and meaning, including a longing to regain a sense of social and cultural repatriation that was lost hundreds of years ago during the initial slave trade from Africa's West coast, one of the most notable countries, being Ghana. Ghana has received quite a bit of attention in academic literature, however, few have analyzed the extent to which this type of roots travel can be connected to the identities of African-Americans and their search for social justice. In order to address this gap, this study will explore the lived experiences of African-American roots travelers on a trip Ghana. Using an ethnographic case study approach, data was collected before, during and after the trip. Findings reveal a form of 'Double Consciousness' and a sense of heightened civic commitment to social justice as a result of the travel experience.