Competing narratives: tensions between diaspora tourism and the Atlantic past in the Gambia

Abstract

The Gambia River was among the first regions of West Africa incorporated into the Atlantic slave trade. The local commercial centre that emerged by the eighteenth century included the village of Juffure. By the nineteenth century, the commercial centre entered a period of decline as Gambia became a formal British colony. Upon exiting the colonial realm of the British, the Gambia immediately entered the landscape of European tourism. Following the publication of Haley's novel, Roots, the Gambia and the residents of Juffure began to shape their identity around the Roots narrative and a tourist landscape was created to foster this narrative. The remnants of the former Atlantic trading centre surrounding Juffure and the designated UNESCO World Heritage Area in addition to the Roots landscape all incorporate similar historic and heritage built features. The three underlying narratives, however, actively contradict one another. Through an approach to history-making as a cultural process incorporating a guided, experiential understanding of landscapes, the purposeful movement of tourists through the built environment in order to promote one of three physically visible narratives is addressed applying a test of historic credibility developed by Appadurai in order to address issues of competing authenticity.

Keywords:

• the Gambia
• Roots
• slavery
• heritage landscape
• credibility
• authenticity

Notes

In March 2006, two European tour companies refused to send tour groups without armed escorts due to numerous reports of harassment. The same companies also stated that their groups would not be taken to the Kinte compound or to meet the Juffure alkalho if donation boxes were presented.