Tourism is the fastest growing economic activity in the world and is one of Africa’s most promising sectors of development, with international tourist arrivals forecasted to more than double its present numbers by 2030. As nations across Africa invest heavily in tourism infrastructure to promote economic development in their societies, not much significance is devoted towards highlighting the potential socio-cultural and political impact on host communities throughout Africa. In addition to high leakage of earning away from the host nations, devastation of the local natural environments, exploitation of indigenous workforce, lack of steady employment, corruption of local officials, social and cultural disruption, employment migration, marginality of urban populations in tourist areas and dislocation of rural communities remain major dilemmas faced by populations whose livelihood increasingly depend on encounters with tourists and tourism. We invite papers examining the impact of tourism on local social, cultural and political developments in urban and rural communities from across Africa, exploring how Africans engage with such challenges posed by tourism: the impact of tourism related migration on host territories, how mobility across and between different urban-rural landscapes affects notions of belonging in local communities, influence of new, “modern” worldviews, behavior and social practices, and capacity in which tourism creates new opportunities and reconfigures existing socio-economic, religious, gender, sexual (in)equalities. In analyzing these issues, contributors are also encouraged to explore how tourism can contribute towards fostering sustainable and inclusive development in urban and rural communities across Africa.
Themes that we hope to cover in the edited volume include:
- Tourism and dislocation in African communities
- Dynamics of urban-rural migration, as related to tourism
- Transformations in local notions of belonging in tourism environments
- Modes of resistance to tourism
- Sustainable models of inclusive development in tourist dominated areas
Social inequalities (political, gender, sexual, ethnic) associated with the tourism landscape
Emerging modes of mobility/immobility within the tourism discourse
Human rights issues and access to land/water use within the tourism discourse
Mobility and the politics of heritage tourism
The editors invite contributions from all disciplines that explore issues related to forms of mobilities/immobilities experienced by individuals and communities across Africa within the tourism discourse. The volume will aspire to incorporate diverse theoretical discussions related to questions of mobility, as associated with growing influence of tourism in communities across Africa and include case studies from all regions of Africa. Thus, contributors should ensure that their papers align with one or more of the following themes highlighted above.
Guidelines for Authors:
All submissions should be based on original research and not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors are advised that submission of paper does not constitute a commitment or guarantee by volume editors that the paper will be incorporated in the volume. All submissions will be subjected to two levels of peer review, the first stage facilitated by the editors and the second stage coordinated by the publisher.
The papers /chapters should be developed for a global audience. The papers should be well referenced and situate the discussion of specific case studies within the realm of issues pertaining to questions of mobility within local communities in which tourism increasingly occupies a prominent space across Africa.
All diagrams and figures should be adapted versions and should not be taken in original forms from sources. If the tables or figures are brought in original form then they must be accompanied with copyright permission. The length of the submission should be no more than 8,000 words (inclusive of all references, footnotes and citations). The paper should be in 12 font size (Times New Roman) and should be double spaced and must use references in Harvard Referencing format both within and end of text.