Call for Papers for international conference on Roots/Heritage Tourism in Africa and the African Diaspora

Florida International University’s (FIU) African & African Diaspora Studies Program’s Call for Papers for international conference on Roots/Heritage Tourism in Africa and the African Diaspora: Case Studies for a Comparative Approach to be held on Thursday- Friday 12-14 February 2015 at the FIU’s Graham Center Ballrooms in Miami, FL.

This is a multi-disciplinary conference. We are particularly interested in papers about diverse sites of African and African diaspora roots/heritage tourism in continental Africa, the Americas, Europe, and elsewhere that have, and this is not an exhaustive list, the following foci:
– Multilateral and international agencies, nation-state and other governmental agencies’ involvement, or lack thereof, in the transformation of sites of memory into roots/heritage tourist attractions.
– Involvement of identified stakeholders in the construction of specific narratives to be served to roots/heritage tourists in specific sites; tourists’ reception of the narrative; local populations’ reception of the narrative; …
– Roots/heritage tourism as a sustainable pro-poor or poverty reduction tourism initiative.
– The inclusion of roots/heritage tourism in U.S. study abroad programs.
– Ethnographic history of specific roots/heritage tourism sites.

The ultimate objective of the conference organizers is to publish an edited volume with a selection of the papers presented along with keynote presentations.

Please, submit your abstract (no more than 600 words) as an attachment in Word or pdf by September 30, 2014 to 2015ht@fiu.edu<mailto:2015ht@fiu.edu>. A committee will select the papers for inclusion in the conference program. Notices will be sent out by October 30, 2014.
We will accept abstracts in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

For more information about the conference, please visit our website at Africana.fiu.edu.