tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/year-of-return-74663/articlesYear of return – The Conversation2020-09-26T06:13:47Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1464412020-09-26T06:13:47Z2020-09-26T06:13:47ZA good museum experience pays off for the tourism sector in Ghana<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360030/original/file-20200925-22-1qn0qfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elmina Castle Museum is a popular tourist attraction in Ghana</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2019 <a href="https://www.yearofreturn.com/">Year of Return</a>, when Ghana welcomed Africans in the diaspora to participate in events associated with the country’s rich cultural heritage, was an opportunity to learn more about what tourists want. One million foreign visitors entered the country to mark 400 years of the first enslaved Africans arriving in the United States. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331203256580">event</a> reaffirmed Ghana’s prominence in heritage tourism and the importance of tourism to its economy.<br>
The sector is one of the main <a href="https://www.icao.int/Meetings/SUSDEV-AT/Documents/Presentation_GHANA%20TOURISM%20POTENTIALS.pdf">socio-economic drivers</a> of Ghana’s foreign income and job creation. It also stimulates the growth of other industries. Tourism contributed <a href="https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact">6.2%</a> of Ghana’s GDP in 2017 and is the fourth highest income earner for Ghana after gold, cocoa and oil. In 2017, <a href="https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/ghana-2018">1.3 million</a> international tourists visited the country and before the COVID-19 pandemic the sector had <a href="http://www.ghana.travel/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Ghana-Tourism-Development-Plan.pdf">high hopes</a> for tourism growth.</p>
<p>The importance of heritage in Ghana’s tourism offerings means that museums are a big part of tourism. I conducted a <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IHR-04-2020-0009/full/html">study</a> to examine tourists’ experiences of the country’s National Museum. I aimed to find out what effect their experiences have on their satisfaction with their museum visit, their loyalty to the venue and their willingness to pay more for a visit. I also wanted to understand how the frequency of a tourist’s visit to the museum influences the relationship between satisfaction and willingness to pay more.</p>
<p>I found that frequency of visits has an influence on willingness to pay more. This research also found that the more often people visit a museum, the more they are willing to pay. This study offers managers of museums some insight into how to attract and satisfy more tourists and the economic benefits this could bring.</p>
<h2>Findings</h2>
<p>Ghana has several museums across the country. Among them are the National Museum and Museum of Science and Technology in Accra, Volta Regional Museum, Cape Coast Castle Museum, Upper East Regional Museum in Bolgatanga, St George’s Castle (Elmina Castle) Museum, and Fort Apollonia Museum of Nzema Culture and History. In 2018, these museums received thousands of visitors with the <a href="https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2019/01/10/elmina-cape-coast-castles-record-over-100000-domestic-tourists-in-2018/">Cape Coast and Elmina</a> castles being the most popular.</p>
<p>My research was done at the <a href="https://nationalmuseum.ghana-net.com/index.html">National Museum</a>, which contains artefacts, cultural objects and Ghanaian artists’ paintings. The National Museum is the largest and oldest museum in Ghana. Built in 1975, it is a leading heritage tourism destination particularly for African-Americans who trace their family roots to Ghana. </p>
<p>During the tourism season of 2019, I engaged with 385 domestic and foreign tourists on site, which represented a 68.8% response rate. The visitors completed questionnaires directly after their experience of the National Museum. Most of the tourists were female (56%) and 30% were aged between 35 and 44. Just over half (52%) were international tourists. About the same percentage (53%) were repeat tourists. </p>
<p>Analysis of the questionnaire responses showed that tourists’ museum experience had a direct impact on satisfaction. In turn, satisfaction influenced loyalty; and loyalty affected willingness to pay more for the experience. Number of visits also had a positive relationship with willingness to pay more.</p>
<h2>What it means</h2>
<p>The findings support the perception of the government of Ghana and other stakeholders that tourist experience and satisfaction should be cultivated. </p>
<p>The main research problem addressed in this study was the need to consider museum cultural experience as part of the tourism experience. First, the finding confirms that visitors’ experience has a positive effect on tourist satisfaction. This is evidence that visitor expectations were likely to have been met.</p>
<p>Considering that museum experience creates emotional attachments, this finding underscores the importance of preserving cultural heritage at museum destinations. The study showed that tourists’ satisfaction positively influenced loyalty, loyalty positively influenced willingness to pay more and frequency of visits moderates the relationship between satisfaction and willingness to pay more. </p>
<p>The findings are encouraging for Ghana because they suggest that the National Museum of Ghana is adopting international standards to preserve and protect cultural heritage that would attract tourists from all over the world. </p>
<p>In addition, Ghana provides a unique cultural context in which to study the effects of tourist experience, as there are creative art exhibitions and cultural artefacts that attract a large number of tourists to the museums.</p>
<p>The tourists indicated that they were likely to visit the museum repeatedly. This would expose them to different personalities and cultural values, and help build lasting relationships.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Diani Kofi Preko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana’s museums can improve visitor numbers by paying attention to customer satisfaction.Alexander Diani Kofi Preko, Senior Lecturer, Marketing, University of Professional Studies AccraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1408622020-06-23T14:13:05Z2020-06-23T14:13:05ZCan roots tourism build social justice? A case study of travellers to Ghana provides insights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343243/original/file-20200622-55005-ty08tc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The view from the dungeon of the Cape Coast Castle.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alana Dillette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Protests against racism have erupted around the globe in recent weeks, sparked by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fury-in-us-cities-is-rooted-in-a-long-history-of-racist-policing-violence-and-inequality-139752">murder</a> of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota, in the United States. This act of racial violence serves as a timely reminder of the racial inequalities that persist for black people around the world, African diasporas being no exception. </p>
<p>In fact, Ghana, which has been a leader in connecting this diaspora to its African roots through tourism, commemorated the life of Floyd with a <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-holds-memorial-service-for-george-floyd.html">memorial</a> service in Accra. The service was arranged by Ghana’s Year of Return committee, in partnership with the African Union of Diasporan Forum.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2018-march-2019/2019-year-return-african-diaspora">Year of Return</a> – 2019 – was a tourism campaign to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first slave ship landing in America. It was an instance of “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2020.1727913">roots tourism</a>”, which appeals to travellers to visit a destination on the basis of their ancestry. </p>
<p>Beyond the education and personal transformation that many travellers gain from this type of tourism, could it also be an opportunity for racial reconciliation? </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2020.1727913">study</a> of one recent group of African American roots travellers to Ghana suggests this may be a possibility. The study explored how the trip affected these travellers’ sense of identity and their commitment towards social justice initiatives. </p>
<h2>Exploring roots in Ghana</h2>
<p>In August 2018, I joined a group of 10 African American travellers on a 10-day trip to Ghana where we visited historical sights, as well as cities, villages and nature preserves. I interviewed the travellers before and after the trip, in addition to conducting observations and a focus group during the trip. I asked them about their expectations of the journey and how the experience had affected their identity. I also asked if it made them more likely to participate in social justice activities such as protesting, getting involved with social justice organisations in their communities and speaking up about social injustices in their professions. </p>
<p>Travellers revealed to me that the trip helped them to conceptualise slavery differently, and this led them to a deeper understanding of race relations in the United States. For example, one traveller said that prior to visiting Ghana, they felt a “certain anger towards white people”. But visiting Ghana and specifically the Cape Coast dungeon exposed them to learning more about all of the actors in slavery – (white) Europeans and (black) Africans. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-hopes-year-of-return-will-boost-tourism-but-caution-is-needed-120338">Ghana hopes 'Year of Return' will boost tourism. But caution is needed</a>
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<p>Travellers also shared how the trip helped them to understand more deeply their identity as both African and American. For example, one participant said: </p>
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<p>I have these identifiable characteristics about me that link me to this place. I hope to go home and be able to exude that like a light off me, without being afraid or ashamed; we shouldn’t be fearful of who we really are.</p>
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<p>This quote exemplifies how identity formation through roots travel can lead to a form of reconciliation within travellers themselves. </p>
<p>Another traveller said they realised after the trip that roots tourism, if curated well, could be an avenue for cross-racial communication and understanding. They said they had noticed a clear difference between white and black tour groups at the Cape Coast dungeon. One was more romanticised, and one highlighted more of the horrific details of slavery. </p>
<p>This traveller said the romanticised experience was common at many former slave plantation heritage tourism sites in the US. These types of narratives only perpetuate experiences reminiscent of the <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/traveling-through-jim-crow-america#:%7E:text=During%20the%20segregation%20era%2C%20discriminatory,food%2C%20restrooms%2C%20and%20lodging">Jim Crow</a> era. But if transformed, these experiences both in Ghana and the US could act as a platform for racial reconciliation. </p>
<p>One traveller described their own internal racial reconciliation by saying:</p>
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<p>We are all human. I wish that we lived in a world that could really and truly embrace that, but we don’t. So, for now, I continue trying to spread the love and be unashamed about who I am, which is a mixture of so many things, some of which do originate in Africa, and I am proud of that now. </p>
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<h2>Making peace</h2>
<p>These types of experiences through roots tourism represent an opportunity for the creation of peace and reconciliation. Travellers can learn together about the collective emotional trauma resultant from slavery, the misinformation that is often passed down about slavery and how these issues can be discussed openly. </p>
<p>Travel and tourism are not often linked to social justice. But the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2020.1727913">research</a> shows that tourism does in fact provide a platform for this. Travellers in my study said their trip to Ghana empowered them to make changes towards social equity in their professional and personal lives. They described actionable change along with expanded mindsets. For example, one traveller mentioned getting involved with empowering black musicians in their community. Another started contributing financially to empower female business owners in Ghana. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-year-of-return-2019-traveler-tourist-or-pilgrim-121891">Ghana's Year of Return 2019: traveler, tourist or pilgrim?</a>
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<p>Roots travel experiences also shine a light on the continued everyday racism that people face as a trickle-down effect of slavery. Participants described how societal racism in the US had made an impact on their lives, and how travelling to Ghana had emboldened them to search for clarity of identity and self, as well as social equality.</p>
<p>The research already shows that tourism can promote peace, transformation and cross-cultural understanding. But it’s a good time to ask how the travel and tourism industry has contributed to racism and how that can <a href="https://www.tourismreset.com/">change</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alana Dillette does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is a good time to ask how the travel and tourism industry has contributed to racism and how that can change.Alana Dillette, Assistant Professor. L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Tourism RESET, San Diego State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1113202019-12-05T19:55:21Z2019-12-05T19:55:21ZReparations for slavery and genocide should be used to address health inequities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305259/original/file-20191204-70105-1ujjsan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=118%2C88%2C4815%2C2943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Health justice funds could be used to support Black and Indigenous health initiatives and provide mental and physical health services to deal with the impact of transgenerational trauma.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As soon as I entered <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa/elmina-castle-and-its-dark-history-enslavement-torture-and-death-003450">Elmina Castle (the dungeons) in Cape Coast in Ghana</a>, I felt haunted by over 400 years of brutality and the enslavement and genocide of millions of African and Indigenous peoples. That violence still <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-legacy-of-slavery-affects-the-mental-health-of-black-americans-today-44642">impacts the health of Black</a> <a href="http://fnn.criaw-icref.ca/images/userfiles/files/LWM3_ColonialismImpacts.pdf">and Indigenous folks</a> today. </p>
<p>The literal branding of Black people through mostly European <a href="http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_40.html">state-sanctioned chattel transatlantic slavery</a> by the Portuguese, British, French, Swedish, Dutch and Danish among others, haunted me in those dungeons. Colonialists <a href="https://www.pcusa.org/news/2013/5/10/how-could-slave-traders-pray-chapel-built-over-dun/">built churches on top and below prisons, chambers, pits and caves where my ancestors were chained, branded, raped, killed and violated</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/africandescentdecade/">international decade for people of African descent (2015-24)</a>, the “year of return,” encourages Africans living in the diaspora to travel back to Ghana (formerly known as the Gold Coast) to embrace their African heritage and ancestry. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296574/original/file-20191010-188819-17iz6s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/ca/topics/focus-truth-and-reconciliation-in-canada-77341">Click here for more articles in our ongoing series about the TRC Calls to Action.</a></span>
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<p>As a descendant of enslaved Africans via the Caribbean, living in colonial Canada (Turtle island), and a human rights health scholar, my trip to Ghana this summer during the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-year-of-return-2019-traveler-tourist-or-pilgrim-121891">year of return</a>” was significant. </p>
<p>We are often asked to forget or minimize our enslavement histories through <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/historical-amnesia-about-slavery-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/">forced amnesia</a>. But the smells of blood, sweat, terror and bones haunted me as I explored the impact of transgenerational trauma on myself and communities. These are the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/200-years-a-slave-the-dark-history-of-captivity-in-canada/article17178374/">roots of anti-Black racism and white supremacy</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303894/original/file-20191127-112531-16y6nng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Former governor general of Canada Michaëlle Jean leaves a room at Elmina Castle in Ghana, on Nov. 29, 2006. African slaves passed through here before they were loaded onto slave ships.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand)</span></span>
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<p>Presently, in the United States, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/11/18246741/reparations-democrats-2020-inequality-warren-harris-castro">presidential candidates are discussing reparations</a> for the descendants of enslaved men and women. The proposal to research reparations for African descendants, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/40/text">H.R. 40</a>, has been presented to Congress.</p>
<p>In Canada, health justice reparations would support the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s Calls to Action and other Indigenous redress initiatives. For instance, <a href="https://www.healthcarecan.ca/wp-content/themes/camyno/assets/document/IssueBriefs/2016/EN/TRCC_EN.pdf">recommendation No. 21</a> calls upon the federal government to provide sustainable funding for existing and new Indigenous healing centres to address the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual harms caused by residential schools, and to ensure that the funding of healing centres in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories is a priority.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-is-the-solution-to-canadas-health-inequities-106226">Indigenous knowledge is the solution to Canada's health inequities</a>
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<h2>Reparations and justice</h2>
<p>Health justice reparation is a call for returns to past and present-day countries that benefited from the exploitation of African and Indigenous peoples and our resources. Health justice reparations are for Africans who were forcefully taken away and for those who stayed on the continent, both living through the anguish of family separation, grief and loss. </p>
<p>Health justice reparations need to be discussed in local, national and transnational contexts, and among non-governmental, private and governmental organizations. </p>
<p>Reparations have been discussed by African descendants in our communities since at least the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Slavery-Abolition-Act">abolition of the slave trade in 1833</a> in Britain. </p>
<p>Some scholars wrote about reparations starting in 1949 after the Second World War as the International Court of Justice heard the case “<a href="http://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1949.04.11_reparation_for_injuries.htm">Injuries Suffered in Service of the United Nations</a>.” Survivors of the Holocaust <a href="https://qz.com/1680558/for-slavery-reparations-the-us-can-look-to-post-holocaust-germany/">received reparations</a> through funds given to Israel and the World Jewish Congress shortly after. </p>
<p>Although there have been <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/19/house-committee-examines-slavery-reparations/1497953001/">many discussions on reparations for African descendants by Black politicians and legal experts</a>, official redress for slavery and its associated atrocities before the Second World War for predominantly African populations have not been significantly considered. </p>
<h2>Human rights compensations</h2>
<p>Health justice funds could be used to support Black health initiatives and provide mental and physical health services to deal with the impact of transgenerational trauma. Health justice reparations could be used to educate the public and historicize the voices of Africans and Indigenous Peoples experiencing health inequity (violence). </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304827/original/file-20191202-66982-a0g9qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., left, talks with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, right, as he waits to testify about reparation for the descendants of slaves during a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., June 19, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)</span></span>
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<p>Health justice reparations could also be used to support Indigenous Peoples living in the Americas who have suffered horrendous genocide and deal with continued health struggles because of it. </p>
<p>Reparations should be looked at globally <a href="http://caricomreparations.org/the-global-reparations-movement/">as a way for African and Indigenous communities</a> to address state-sanctioned violence and trauma against our communities transnationally. </p>
<p>African and Indigenous peoples living in <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/424984.stm">Africa</a>, the <a href="http://caricomreparations.org/caricom/caricoms-10-point-reparation-plan/">Caribbean</a>, <a href="https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/08/03/the-us-should-welcome-central-americans-as-a-form-of-reparations/">Central America</a>, <a href="https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/the-controversial-debate-over-reparations-for-slavery-in-brazil/">South America</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-02/stolen-generations-to-get-$73-million-compensation-package-nsw/8086126">Australia</a>, <a href="https://networks.h-net.org/node/2881/reviews/32109/michelakos-beckles-britains-black-debt-reparations-slavery-and-native">Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/20/california-native-americans-governor-apology-reparations">North America</a>, including <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/2554/whats-wrong-with-a-cheque-a-call-for-slavery-reparations-in-canada">Canada</a>, are demanding redress for continued harm, loss and violence experienced. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-inuit-approach-to-cancer-care-promotes-self-determination-and-reconciliation-116900">An Inuit approach to cancer care promotes self-determination and reconciliation</a>
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<p>Health justice reparations include compensation and amends for mental, emotional, physical, social, cultural, spiritual and financial harms. The impact of cultural genocide by forcing the enslaved to speak the languages of the colonizer and to be re-named by those colonizers needs to be addressed. </p>
<p>Transnational Indigenous languages need to be taught everywhere.</p>
<h2>Collect more data</h2>
<p>Collecting race and intersectional-based statistics <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2019.0100">is critical</a> to <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2017/03/07/ontario-releases-anti-racism-strategy-includes-collecting-race-based-data/">addressing the health disparities</a> in Canada and globally. The often missing data, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/health-data-black-canadians-racism-****study-breast-cervical-cancer-1.5366638">if collected, can be used to support life-saving health research and programs</a>. </p>
<p>Transgenerational health trauma is directly connected to present-day health inequities and health disparities. Addressing health disparities in Black and Indigenous communities must include ways to deal with ongoing transgenerational trauma as a direct result of colonial violence. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-impacts-your-health-84112">Racism impacts your health</a>
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<p>Health justice reparation requires recognition of the impact of violence on long-term health. Historical and contemporary anti-Black racist policies and practices need to be addressed with apologies and new policy implementation. </p>
<p>Structural violence inflicted on Black and Indigenous Peoples’ lives <a href="http://www.oacas.org/2016/10/one-vision-one-voice-launches-practice-framework-aimed-at-supporting-better-outcomes-for-african-canadians-in-child-welfare/">by state institutions</a> such as the Children’s Aid Society, prison systems, <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/12/04/canada-healthcare-system-john-river/">hospitals</a>, schools and public housing needs to be addressed for its impact on health.</p>
<p>Addressing health violence must include transnational Indigenous knowledge and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418787214">anti-colonial research ethics.</a></p>
<p>The western medical model — linked to <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/disturbing-resilience-scientific-racism-180972243/">scientific racism</a> and other forms of discrimination — must be challenged. This model has lead to cultural biases and stigma-based scientific inquiry that has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4354806/">created biased health research</a>.</p>
<p>Health justice reparations must include debt forgiveness to countries and community members of African ancestry for transgenerational trauma. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/aug/20/past.hearafrica05">Debt forgiveness</a> can put back money into struggling health-care systems and communities globally that were forced to cut social service spending.</p>
<p>Our conversations need not be about the impossibility of reparations. Health justice reparations is about life and death, it is about our past, present and future.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberta K. Timothy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the United States, presidential candidates are discussing reparations for the descendants of enslaved men and women.Roberta K. Timothy, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Social and Behavioural Health Science, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218912019-08-22T12:42:02Z2019-08-22T12:42:02ZGhana’s Year of Return 2019: traveler, tourist or pilgrim?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289036/original/file-20190822-170951-lvwhj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African diasporans visit forts and castles in Ghana as the material embodiment of death, violence and subjugation during the slave trade.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“We may call ourselves African Americans but we are truly disconnected from Africa. I say WE because I’m not excluded! I thought ‘my people’ came from South Carolina … but this heritage was only a small part of my people’s journey that began in Ghana, a place that had kings well before Europe had theirs.”</p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/US-actor-Jai-White-writes-about-negative-reaction-to-Ghana-visit-716666">were the words</a> of American actor and director Michael Jai White, who visited Ghana towards the end of 2018. </p>
<p>He and over 40 African diasporan celebrities took part in “The Full Circle Festival”, designed to attract visitors to Ghana. The list included Idris Elba, Boris Kodjoe, Naomi Campbell, Anthony Anderson and Adrienne-Joi Johnson. During the visit, Akwamuhene Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, the Akwamu Paramount Chief, enstooled White as Chief “Oduapong” meaning “Tree with strong roots that does not fear the storm”.</p>
<p>The Ghana government invited the celebrities as part of the “<a href="https://www.yearofreturn.com/">Year of Return</a>, Ghana 2019”. The initiative involves a year-long series of activities. These include visits to heritage sites, healing ceremonies, theatre and musical performances, lectures, investment forums and relocation conferences. The aim is to promote Ghana as a tourist destination and investment opportunity. </p>
<p>This year marks the 400-year anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’ arrival in Jamestown in the US. The Year of Return represents <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2018-march-2019/2019-year-return-african-diaspora">an effort to</a> “unite Africans on the continent with their brothers and sisters in the diaspora”. </p>
<p>In support, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2018-march-2019/2019-year-return-african-diaspora">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We know of the extraordinary achievements and contributions (Africans in the diaspora) made to the lives of the Americans, and it is important that this symbolic year – 400 years later – we commemorate their existence and their sacrifices. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In commemoration, numerous visitors are travelling to Ghana. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will also conduct the Jamestown (Virginia, US) to Jamestown (Accra, Ghana) Memorial Trip.</p>
<p>Ghana is <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/places-to-visit-2019/index.html">number 4 on</a> CNN Travel’s 19 best places to visit in 2019.</p>
<h2>Genealogies</h2>
<p>African diasporans as “returnees” dates back to Ghana’s immediate post-independence period. Shortly after independence in 1957, President Kwame Nkrumah invited many well-known African diasporans to assist with nation building. These included Julian Bond, Martin Luther King Jr., George Padmore, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Leslie Lacy, Muhammad Ali and W.E.B. Du Bois.</p>
<p>In the 1990s, President Jerry Rawlings <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-018-9309-z">initiated heritage tourism</a> based on the transatlantic slave trade and Pan-Africanism. Ghana’s coastal forts and castles became integral to heritage, tourism and development strategies. Events included the Pan African Festival of Theatre and Arts (PANAFEST) and Emancipation Day. All were dedicated to the promotion of Pan-Africanism and attracted African diasporans, notably African Americans. </p>
<p>As part of the nation’s <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515459.stm">50th independence in 2007</a> President John Kufour partnered with the Discovery Channel and launched “Ghana – The Presidential Tour”. He introduced “The Joseph Project” that targeted middle-class, Christian African-Americans. </p>
<p>The forts and castles remained centre stage. Additional plans included the development of commemoration gardens, DNA projects and sponsored tours. It also involved developing an interfaith centre at Assin Manso, where captive Africans had their last bath before being transported onto the slave ships.</p>
<p>President John Atta Mills <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBYP9RIzgPs">continued</a> with heritage tourism as a means to development. In 2009, the most high-profile African diasporan tourist and pilgrim, US President Barack Obama, visited Cape Coast Castle.</p>
<p>In 2015, President John Mahama <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/ghana-s-president-john-dramani-mahama-visits-unesco">sought assistance</a> from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the forts and castles, and further development of heritage tourism.</p>
<p>Over the years, successive governments have also offered opportunities such as granting citizenship, dual nationality status, tax exemptions and land grants to diasporans to encourage returnees.</p>
<h2>Commercialising homecoming</h2>
<p>Since Alex Haley’s 1980s popular novel and television series, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/102/1028685/roots/9781784873387.html">Roots</a>, African diasporans engaging in “heritage tourism”, “roots tourism” or “pilgrimage”, travel to Africa as tourists and pilgrims. This blurs the distinctions between travel, tourism and pilgrimage. </p>
<p>African diasporans visit the forts and castles as the material embodiment of death, violence and subjugation during the transatlantic slave trade. They are the sites where captive Africans forcibly departed the continent to be trafficked through the Middle Passage and enslaved in the New World. Interpretations over the histories told at these sites are frequently contested. </p>
<p>Diasporans also visit other sites such as Manyhia Palace in Asante that represent the glorification of an African regal past.</p>
<p>In 2018, Ghana secured <a href="http://motac.gov.gh/__trashed-2/">$40 million</a> from the World Bank to develop heritage tourism. It is hoped this will stimulate economic development. </p>
<p>Yet, ongoing debates view heritage, tourism and development in various ways. Some view it as exploitative and destructive, replicating and perpetuating colonial forms of domination and structural underdevelopment. Others view it positively. A few remain ambivalent.</p>
<h2>An act of reclamation</h2>
<p>The Year of Return 2019 remains deeply embedded within a capitalist culture that engages with a complex set of practices, discourses and meanings.</p>
<p>Commercialisation of the “return” requires the saleability of the history of the transatlantic slave trade for African diasporan consumption. </p>
<p>Herein lies a painful irony: the commodification of heritage directed at African diasporans is based on a system that was once the commodification of people, through the transatlantic slave trade. </p>
<p>Descendants of the enslaved of the past are the heritage tourists and/or pilgrims in the present.</p>
<p>Still, constructions of Africa have always been central to African diasporic imaginaries. White’s comments resonate for many African diasporans. For many diasporans, the “return” symbolises an act of heritage reclamation. Africa is viewed as the motherland. It is considered a source of black resistance, pride and dignity.</p>
<p>For Africans and African diasporans such as White, knowing heritage pasts are important. But it remains to be seen how this will translate into critical and sustained engagement to realise the potentials for transforming heritage futures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For Africans and diasporans, learning about their heritage is important. But it remains to be seen how this will translate into a sustained continental and diasporan engagement.Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Assistant Professor, African Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology and Critical Heritage, Hampshire CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1203382019-08-08T12:25:33Z2019-08-08T12:25:33ZGhana hopes ‘Year of Return’ will boost tourism. But caution is needed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287152/original/file-20190807-84205-n0r5ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The door of no return at the Cape Coast Castle</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ghana has designated 2019 as the <a href="https://www.yearofreturn.com/">Year of Return</a> to commemorate 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in the United States. The government has been running a massive marketing campaign targeting African Americans and the diaspora, and various events have been arranged. The focus has been on memorialising the liberation from slavery. But it has also served as a marketing exercise to popularise Ghana as a tourism destination with Trans-Atlantic trade appeal. </p>
<p>According to the most comprehensive <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/how-many-slaves-landed-in-the-us/">analysis</a> of shipping records over the course of the slave trade between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. Nearly 11 million survived the dreaded middle passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America.</p>
<p>African Americans, in particular, have been tracing their ancestries for decades. In recent years, increasing numbers have used DNA testing to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707610167">trace</a> their ancestry and have made spiritual pilgrimages to the countries of origin. Some have even taken up citizenship of these countries.</p>
<p>The Year of Return campaign hopes to capitalise on these links to boost Ghana’s tourism industry. The sector contributed 5.5% to <a href="https://www.wttc.org/economic-impact/country-analysis/country-data/">GDP</a> in 2018, coming fourth after gold, cocoa and oil in terms of foreign exchange generation for the country. </p>
<p>But there’s a great deal of room for growth. The industry saw significant growth starting in the 1980s. This was as a result of a structural adjustment <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/161661531711822807/pdf/Ghana-Tourism-project-appraisal-document-pad-P164211-25Jun18-06252018.pdf">programme</a>, agreed to with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which made tourism a priority industry. As a result a regulatory framework and private sector involvement was developed. </p>
<p>In its latest tourism drive as part of the Year of Return Ghana has put in place a programme that incentivises diaspora returnees. It has <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-ghana-jamaica-waive-entry-visa-requirements-for-citizens.html">waived</a> some visa requirements and passed amendments to a 2002 <a href="http://www.ghanaiandiaspora.com/how-to/dual-citizenship/">law</a> that permits people of African origin to apply for a right to stay indefinitely in Ghana. </p>
<p>We would argue that the marketing campaign can be beneficial to tourism growth in Ghana. But destination managers and regulators need to be circumspect about some possible fall outs. For example, research has shown that inviting foreign firms into a sector can do immeasurable damage to local industries. A <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326959645_The_Effect_of_Foreign_Direct_Investment_on_Industrial_Sector_Growth_Evidence_from_Sri_Lanka">study</a> done in 2018 found that foreign firms can crowd out locally owned ones. </p>
<h2>The positives</h2>
<p>There certainly are positive aspects to The “Year of Return” and the marketing activities that are being used to draw the world’s attention to Ghana as the home for the African diaspora.</p>
<p>Firstly, it is likely to put the country in better position on the world tourism ladder in terms of popularity. The “Year of Return” as a brand is likely to have a positive impact on the country’s image and its marketability. Ghana holds a special place in the dark history of the slave trade. It was one of the key departure points in Africa at the height of the trade.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.yearofreturn.com/">year-long</a> event is being marked by various marketing activities both locally and internationally. Various platforms are being used including social media, traditional media as well as trade fairs and shows. </p>
<p>Efforts include co-opting traditional authorities as well as local and international celebrities as part of the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/ghana-reaches-out-to-descendants-of-slaves-in-year-of-return-campaign/a-49426339">campaign</a>. These include Idris Elba, Boris Kodjoe, Naomi Campbell, and over 30 Ghanaian celebrities.</p>
<p>The hope is that the campaign will increase tourism numbers, and that the “Year of Return” will have longer term consequences too. This could be in the form of investments as the government is encouraging African Americans to invest in various sectors of the economy, particularly the service industry. </p>
<h2>But caution is required</h2>
<p>But there could also be some negative affects. Ghanaians rely heavily on tourists’ expenditure for their livelihoods. The danger is that diasporians who invest in the local tourism industry could crowd out local small and medium sized enterprises. </p>
<p>This would especially be true if they were large-scale businesses. For example in Malaysia and <a href="http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jad/article/view/13339/10694">Sri Lanka</a> multinational firms have crowded out local ones, especially in the tourism industry. </p>
<p>Another issue to watch is the broader impact on the economy. Tourism can easily trigger inflation in the local economy where services providers tend to give inflated prices to tourists because they are perceived to be rich. A typical example is <a href="https://stay-grounded.org/barcelona-a-city-exploited-by-tourism/">Barcelona</a>, Spain; there, prices appear to be higher than normal within tourist hubs. </p>
<p>The Year of Return is a useful strategy as a marketing tool that’s likely to increase visitor arrivals in Ghana. But there could also be possible negative ramifications if foreign firms move in aggressively. This means it’s important that domestic firms are supported while the entry and operations of foreign firms in Ghana is controlled.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana is banking on a much needed boost to its tourism sector from its call to Africans in the diaspora.Frederick Dayour, Lecturer, University for Development StudiesAlbert N. Kimbu, Senior Lecturer in Hospitality & Tourism, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.