'What is Africa to me' now?: African-American heritage tourism in Senegambia. Issue 2 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Parry, Tyler D.
• Is Part Of: Journal of contemporary African studies. Volume 36:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 245
• Page End: 263
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Slavery -- heritage tourism -- double consciousness -- roots -- diaspora; Africa -- Periodicals; Africa -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Africa -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 960
• DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2017.1387236
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0258-9001

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article scrutinises how Afro-diasporic tourists exemplify concepts of liminality, historical memory, and racial construction while engaging in heritage tourism, and how these concepts inform the host community's perception of the visitors. It includes the results of extensive interviews with African Americans who engaged in roots or heritage tourism in Senegal and/or Gambia in 2010, and who visited the Maison des Esclaves in Gorée Island and/or Juffureh Village in The Gambia. The research shows that African American tourists emerge from these encounters with various conceptions of self. Some felt more 'African' following their pilgrimage, while others felt a stronger attachment to their American identity. Some preferred an unfinished combination of the two, asserting a newfound appreciation for their 'African American' identities. Corresponding with the latter point, I revisit the 'Double-Consciousness' theory proposed by W.E.B. Dubois, revealing how some tourists reexamine their diasporic identit(ies) as 'Africans' and 'Americans' during their sojourns.