Tourism, memory and heritage emotional geographies of cultural production, memory-making and commemoration 1-3 June 2026 Amsterdam & Wageningen The Netherlands Call For Participation: What happens on a guided tour of Auschwitz? Which narratives emerge on an organized visit of a former slave plantation? Which stories get told by guides in a museum that curates colonial … Continue reading Tourism, Memory and Heritage conference, 1-3 June 2026: 2nd call for participation
Tourism, memory and heritage emotional geographies of cultural production, memory-making and commemoration 1-3 June 2026 Amsterdam & Wageningen The Netherlands Call For Participation: What happens on a guided tour of Auschwitz? Which narratives emerge on an organized visit of a former slave plantation? Which stories get told by guides in a museum that curates colonial … Continue reading Tourism, Memory and Heritage conference, 1-3 June 2026: first call for participation
Save the date! 350 days left before this exciting international conference takes place in Amsterdam and Wageningen, The Netherlands. This 'Tourism, memory and heritage' conference will be the second edition after the very successful first edition that took place back in 2023. I am convening the 2026 edition as a kick-off conference of my ERC … Continue reading Save the date: ‘Tourism, memory and heritage’ international conference (1-3 June 2026)
Cusco, once the capital of the Inca Empire, offered a glimpse of both its grandeur and the impact of Spanish colonization. The high altitude and chilly weather required acclimatization and I observed the combination of tourism products and experiences, Cusco's place in a network of destinations, and the intermingling of lived and imagined aspects of the city. Amidst staged tourist experiences, I encountered a large number of domestic tourists and noticed the influence of Moorish architectural style. My next adventure was the epic Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu.
After attending the Memory Studies Association conference in Lima, a series of stressful and dramatic events unfolded. Missing the flight to Cusco was only the beginning, followed by a struggle to retrieve luggage and a scare about a lost backpack. However, all's well that ends well, as the backpack was found on the plane. Despite the challenges, the experience in Cusco proved to be worth it, albeit with some struggles adjusting to the high altitude and cold weather. Stay tuned for more Peruvian adventures.
Increasingly, I have come to describe 'niche out' my research work as being focused on the geographies of slavery and colonial heritage tourism in relation to the politics of cultural memory. This niching out process required my search for more (trans-inter) disciplinary grounding for my research. It is in this light that I arrived at … Continue reading Peruvian Posts I: Lima and the Memory Studies Association 2024 Conference
In this third instalment of the Natal Notes, I want to briefly reflect on the first half of my 2nd week stay at the Department of Tourism of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) in Natal, Brazil. I title this reflection as 'the worldmaking possibilities of liminal spaces in academia'. This is … Continue reading Natal Notes III: The worldmaking possibilities of liminal spaces in academia
What constitutes African (digital) heritage? Who assigns heritage values to (im)material cultural elements of the past, present and future? Who maintains and conserves these cultural elements and for which (shared) purposes? To what extent do African state actors and individual cultural entreprenuers work together-apart in activating heritage memories at home and in the diaspora? These … Continue reading Upcoming Workshop: “African (Digital) Heritage” at the Univesity of Bayreuth, 18 – 19 January 2023
This is the second 'save the date' annoucement for the 1-2 June 2023 research gathering in Amsterdam in the context of my ongoing Veni research project. Six months on from the first annoucement and as the research project has evolved, the remit of the planned event has also evolved ever so slightly. The starting point … Continue reading “Tourism, Memory and Heritage” Conference, 1 – 2 June 2023 in Amsterdam (Save the date annoucement II)
Save the date! 365 days left for this exciting symposium I am convening on “Tourism and slavery heritage: geographies of cultural productions, cultural memory and commemoration” as part of my NWO Veni project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqDQQAuSDl0 This will be an international symposium exploring the ways in which tourism in its diverse cultural practices and performances transforms and … Continue reading Save the date: ‘Tourism and slavery heritage’ international symposium (1-2 June 2023)
Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong 