Cultural Tourism in Southern Africa

This volume provides an accessible overview of cultural tourism in southern Africa. It examines the utilisation of culture in southern African tourism and the related impacts, possibilities and challenges from deep and wide-ranging perspectives. The chapters use case studies to showcase some of the cultural tourism which occurs in the region and link to concepts such as authenticity, commodification, the tourist gaze and ‘Otherness’, heritage, sustainability and sustainable livelihoods. The authors scrutinise both positive and negative impacts of cultural tourism throughout the book and explore issues including the definition of community, ethical considerations, empowerment, gender, participation and inequality. The book will be a useful resource for students and researchers of tourism, geography, anthropology and cultural studies.

Haretsebe Manwa is Associate Professor at North-West University, South Africa. Her research encompasses tourism and poverty alleviation, wildlife tourism, community-based tourism and cultural tourism.

Naomi Moswete is Senior Lecturer at the University of Botswana. Her interests include tourism as a strategy for rural development, community-based natural resources management and trans-frontier park-based tourism.

Jarkko Saarinen is Professor at the University of Oulu, Finland and the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research interests include tourism and development, sustainability and tourism-community relations.