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ABSTRACT
Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings is one of the most popular and provocative leaders in African history. A former President of the Republic of Ghana (1992–2000), Rawlings came to power through a military uprising in 1979 and 1981. In 1992 and 1996, he won multiparty elections to become the leader of Ghana for a third and fourth time. To date, Rawlings is Ghana’s youngest and longest-serving leader. Renowned throughout the African continent and beyond, Rawlings continues to cast a charismatic figure in African politics, in what is often described as ‘The Rawlings Factor.' In the late 1980s, faced with numerous economic challenges, Rawlings initiated heritage tourism facilitated by way of Pan Africanism as a means to economic and social development. Ghana’s forts and castles became center stage, and continue to be so until today. In this edited interview, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and author discuss politics, economics, heritage tourism, and development.
Acknowledgements
My deepest thanks to Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings for being extremely generous with his time and support. As always, I extend my gratitude to him for his constant support of my research at Christiansborg/Osu Castle. I am indebted to Yaa Asantewaa Rawlings, Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, and Valerie Sackey for access to the Rawlings Foundation archives, as well as their insights and comments on this article. I want also to thank Editor Dallen J. Timothy and the anonymous readers at the Journal of Heritage Tourism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Rawlings’ straightforward and direct manner of talking, switching easily between the local languages of Ewe, Twi and Ga, as well as English, formal and informal means of communication, it is clearly evident the ways in which he is able to adapt to, comment upon, and thrive in discussions in a variety of social, cultural, political, and economic arenas, both national and international.
2 Due to an administrative error during his enlistment in the air forces, Rawlings’ first and second names were documented as Jerry John, with Rawlings (his middle name) as surname. His name has stayed this way since that time.
3 That had replaced General I.A. Acheampong in a coup, who had previously overthrown Dr. Busia’s constitutional government.
4 Rawlings, without his knowledge, was dismissed from his post.
5 Between October 1982 and January 1985, seven coup attempts were directed against Rawlings.
6 The Akan are the largest ethnic group in Ghana.
7 The Asantehene is the Paramount Chief of the Asante people.
8 Elmina Castle (1482); Christiansborg Castle (1661); Cape Coast Castle (1653); Fort Good Hope (1705); Fort Patience (1696); Fort Amsterdam (1631); Fort Saint Jargo (1660s); Fort Batenstein (1656); Fort San Sebastian (1520s); Fort Metal Cross (1692); English Fort (1663); Fort Saint Antony (1503); Fort William (1753); Fort Orange (1670s); Fort Batenstein (1656); Gross-Freidrichsburg (1683); and Fort Apollonia (1768).
9 Dutch, English, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, French, and Brandenburg-Prussian.
10 Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey has passed away.
11 “Yes Minister” was a popular political satire television show in the United Kingdom during 1980–1984 on the British Broadcasting Service (BBC).
12 In the early 1990s, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a $5 million conservation project directed at Cape Coast Castle, St. George’s Castle, and Fort St. Jago in Elmina. The Smithsonian Institution, United States division of the International Council of Museums (ICOM/US), Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA), and UNESCO conducted museum development projects at Cape Coast Castle.
13 Several international aid organizations expressed concern regarding the Christian nature of the project’s name and the fact that it targets middle class, Christian African-Americans, yet in contradiction, it draws on Islamic notions of pilgrimage.
14 By the 1970s, scholars such as Levitt and Gulati (Citation1970) alleged “a powerful metropolitan tourist lobby operates at the national and international level, through the agency of professional consulting firms, essentially to con international organizations like the World Bank into hoodwinking everyone else about the supposed benefits of international tourism” (Apostolopoulos et al., Citation1996, p. 24)
15 It would be valuable to compare the benefits associated with heritage tourism directed at African Americans versus diasporic Ghanaians who participate in business investments, knowledge transfer (reversing the effects of the brain drain), financial remittances and the other intangible roles played by return Ghanaian migrants.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann
Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann is an associate professor and Director of the Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project (CAHP). She holds a PhD in archaeology from Stanford University (US). She is particularly interested in decolonizing approaches to archaeological heritage praxis.