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A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment

An engaging social history of foreign tourists’ dreams, the African tourism industry’s efforts to fulfill them, and how both sides affect each other.

Since the nineteenth century, foreign tourists and resident tourism workers in Africa have mutually relied upon notions of exoticism, but from vastly different perspectives. Many of the countless tourists who have traveled to the African continent fail to acknowledge or even realize that skilled African artists in the tourist industry repeatedly manufacture “authentic” experiences in order to fulfill foreigners’ often delusional, or at least uninformed, expectations. These carefully nurtured and controlled performances typically reinforce tourists’ reductive impressions—formed over centuries—of the continent, its peoples, and even its wildlife. In turn, once back in their respective homelands, tourists’ accounts of their travels often substantiate, and thereby reinforce, prevailing stereotypes of “exotic” Africa. Meanwhile, Africans’ staged performances not only impact their own lives, primarily by generating remunerative opportunities, but also subject the continent’s residents to objectification, exoticization, and myriad forms of exploitation.

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A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment

An engaging social history of foreign tourists’ dreams, the African tourism industry’s efforts to fulfill them, and how both sides affect each other.

Since the nineteenth century, foreign tourists and resident tourism workers in Africa have mutually relied upon notions of exoticism, but from vastly different perspectives. Many of the countless tourists who have traveled to the African continent fail to acknowledge or even realize that skilled African artists in the tourist industry repeatedly manufacture “authentic” experiences in order to fulfill foreigners’ often delusional, or at least uninformed, expectations. These carefully nurtured and controlled performances typically reinforce tourists’ reductive impressions—formed over centuries—of the continent, its peoples, and even its wildlife. In turn, once back in their respective homelands, tourists’ accounts of their travels often substantiate, and thereby reinforce, prevailing stereotypes of “exotic” Africa. Meanwhile, Africans’ staged performances not only impact their own lives, primarily by generating remunerative opportunities, but also subject the continent’s residents to objectification, exoticization, and myriad forms of exploitation.

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A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment

A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment

by Todd Cleveland
A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment
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A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment

A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment

by Todd Cleveland

Overview

An engaging social history of foreign tourists’ dreams, the African tourism industry’s efforts to fulfill them, and how both sides affect each other.

Since the nineteenth century, foreign tourists and resident tourism workers in Africa have mutually relied upon notions of exoticism, but from vastly different perspectives. Many of the countless tourists who have traveled to the African continent fail to acknowledge or even realize that skilled African artists in the tourist industry repeatedly manufacture “authentic” experiences in order to fulfill foreigners’ often delusional, or at least uninformed, expectations. These carefully nurtured and controlled performances typically reinforce tourists’ reductive impressions—formed over centuries—of the continent, its peoples, and even its wildlife. In turn, once back in their respective homelands, tourists’ accounts of their travels often substantiate, and thereby reinforce, prevailing stereotypes of “exotic” Africa. Meanwhile, Africans’ staged performances not only impact their own lives, primarily by generating remunerative opportunities, but also subject the continent’s residents to objectification, exoticization, and myriad forms of exploitation.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780821447253
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Publication date: 02/23/2021
Series: Africa in World History
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 220
File size: 5 MB

About the Author

Todd Cleveland is an associate professor of history at the University of Arkansas. His books include these Ohio University Press titles: Sports in Africa, Past and Present (2020), Following the Ball: The Migration of African Soccer Players across the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1949–1975 (2018), Diamonds in the Rough: Corporate Paternalism and African Professionalism on the Mines of Colonial Angola, 1917–1975 (2015), and Stones of Contention: A History of Africa’s Diamonds (2014).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Touristic Illusions and Realities 1. Initial Touristic Incursions to Africa 2. Hunting in Africa: Invisible Guides, Big Game, and Bigger Egos 3. Profits and Propaganda: Tourism in Colonial Africa 4. Paradoxes of Independence: Modernizing by Promoting Primitivism 5. The Touristic Invention of the African Camera Safari 6. Going Home: The Diasporic Quest for Belonging through “Roots” Tourism 7. Controversial New(er) Forms of Tourism in Africa Study Guide and Selected Readings Notes Index
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