Geopolitics at the margins? Reconsidering genealogies of critical geopolitics

Critical geopolitics has become one of the most vibrant parts of political geography. However it remains a particularly western way of knowing which has been much less attentive to other traditions of thinking. This paper engages with Pan-Africanism, and specifically the vision of the architect of post-colonial Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, to explore this overlooked contribution to critical engagements with geopoli- tics. Pan-Africanism sought to forge alternative post-colonial worlds to the binary geopolitics of the Cold War and the geopolitical economy of neo-colonialism. The academic division of labour has meant that these ideas have been consigned to African studies rather than being drawn into wider debates around the definitions of key disciplinary concepts. However Nyerere’s continental thinking can be seen as a form of geopolitical imagination that challenges dominant neo-realist projections, and which still has much to offer contemporary political geography

Social distance between local residents and African-American expatriates in the context of Ghana's slavery-based heritage tourism

This paper explores the social distance between local residents and African-Americans who have settled in Ghana since the 1960s. Data generated from in-depth interviews suggest the African-American expatriates felt their proximity to collective slave memory or particularly slavery heritage conferred on them certain rights to exclude local residents who are more susceptible to forgetting the past. By appropriating traces of the past, the African-American expatriates provide a range of tourism services, albeit to visitors they believed subscribed to socially constructed meanings elicited at slave sites. The study suggests explicit recognition of African-American expatriates in the levels of contestations that result from slavery-based heritage tourism

Collaborative Networks for Sustainable Human Capital Management in Women’s Tourism Entrepreneurship: The role of tourism policy

Government policies to support women’s empowerment in tourism through sustainable human capital management (HCM) is an emerging research theme. Tourism policies can contribute significantly to African women’s empowerment by breaking existing stereotypical barriers that impede women’s HCM. Based on a narrative analysis of published academic and policy literature, we uncover how policy support for collaborative networks can enhance women entrepreneur’s HCM and thereby increase their resiliency and that of their tourism businesses. Collaborative networks are regional and country-specific forums, programs and/or initiatives for networking, skills development and access to resources and agency for women tourism entrepreneurs. Drawing on findings from analyzing collaborative networks involving women entrepreneurs in Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, the paper develops a conceptual framework that depicts four determinants of collaborative networks that influence the HCM of women entrepreneurs in tourism, namely type of network, resources, social capital dimensions and human capital management. Finally, the paper explicates how these determinants can inform national tourism policy to support women entrepreneurs

Development Studies in Tanzania : Historical Trajectory and Future Visions

The chapter discusses the history, dilemmas and future visions of Development Studies in Tanzania, especially from the perspective of Institute of Development Studies in the University of Dar es Salaam. It shows how in the 1970s Development Studies played a significant role in the consolidation of state ideology of African socialism among university students, and since then, has gradually evolved into a recognized discipline with MA and PhD programmes. Over the years, the discipline has dealt with dilemmas related to its multidisciplinary nature, state ideologies, international donor agendas and the changing demands concerning academic publications. Recently, Development Studies in Tanzania has started to address these dilemmas and search for a new identity, for example, through establishing a Tanzanian Development Studies Association.peerReviewe