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African Tourist Encounters: Effects of Tourism on Two West African Societies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Walter E. A. van Beek
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Abstract

This article compares encounters with tourism in two African communities, the Dogon in Mali and the Kapsiki in north Cameroon. The societies are comparable in many respects, but the effects on them of the tourist presence quite different. The Dogon react to tourism by bolstering their cultural pride and self esteem, and they develop inventive ways of gearing their cultural performances to tourist demands without compromising the rituals to which the performances belong. For them, the tourist presence signals the importance and intrinsic interest of Dogon culture. The Cameroonian Kapsiki (called Higi in north Nigeria) interpret the attention bestowed upon them and their country as indicating that they are marginal, living at the rim of the habitable world. They translate the tourist quest for ‘authenticity’ as being ‘backward’ and left out. The reasons for these different reactions are traced to processes inherent in cultural tourism, to the specific agenda of tourism in either place, and to some characteristics of the host '. The overall effect of tourist encounters with local communities seems to be to reinforce existing patterns of identity construction and to restate the images of the relevant ‘other’ already current in those cultures.

Résumé

Cet article est une comparaison entre les rencontres avec des touristes dans deux communautés africaines, les Dogon du Mali et les Kapsiki du Cameroun septentrional. Les deux sociétés sont bien comparables, mais l'impact du tourisme est assez différent. Pour les Dogon, la présence touristique renforce leur estime culturelle de soi, or ils ont développé des ingénieuses adaptations de leur performances culturelles aux exigences touristiques, sans compromettre le contenu religieux de ces rites. Pour les Dogon, le rencontre avec les touristes montre l'importance et la fascination évidente de leur culture. Les Kapsiki du Cameroun (au Nigeria ils se nomment Higi) interprètent l'attention touristique dans le ‘Pays Kapsiki’ comme signe de marginalité, de vivre au bout du monde. Ils traduisent la quête touristique pour l'authenticité africaine comme signale d'exclusion et de manque de développement. Les raisons pour ces différentes réactions sont trouvées dans les processus que ce genre de tourisme culturel engendre, dans les buts spécifiques du tourisme vers ces deux endroits, et dans des caractéristiques des deux ' en question. En général, le rencontre touristique avec des communautés locales semble renforcer des processus de construction identitaire existantes et justifier les images de l'autre déjà en force dans ces cultures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , May 2003 , pp. 251 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2003

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