Project Details
Projekt
The Indian Ocean as Dream Destination - Popular Cultural Discourses of Tourism in the Context of Decolonisation at the Onset of Long Distance Tourism
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Sonja Kmec
Subject Area
Modern and Contemporary History
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 285228642
The sub-project examines how tourism discourses and imaginary representations of emerging mass tourism destinations in the Indian Ocean are embedded in national or post-colonial political discourses. The cognitive interest lies in representations of the other, i.e. Representations of travel destinations as well as those of neighboring European nations: the images, wishes, longings and collective fantasies of the Germans, French and British who shape their discourse about the other.The study period is the long 1960s (or the second half of the Trente glorieuses from a French perspective), in which the beginnings of modern beach and safari tourism coincide with the transition from colonies to independent states. From a comparative perspective, the tourism discourse about this region may not only serve as a yardstick for social change within the three countries, but also reflects attitudes towards the European neighbors, for example when travel guides make statements about the colonial past (or colonial presence) of the travel destination.The geographical focus on East Africa and the Indian Ocean in general allows a comparative framework of a world region with strong historical, economic and sociocultural ties. All of the tourist destinations in this region are (still) colonies of the three European states to be compared: Tanzania (Tanganyika) and parts ofUganda were German 'protectorates' until 1918, they were held under British mandate until 1961 and 1962. Other human colonies were Kenya (1963), Zanzibar (1963), the Maldives (1965), Mauritius (1968) and the Seychelles (1976). La Réunion became a full-fledged overseas department of France as early as 1945, and Madagascar acquired its independence in 1960, the Comoros (excluding Mayotte) in 1975. In this respect, this region was in the 1960s very present in th eminds of British, German and French public, be it by political events reported in the news, or as bygone myths of a lost 'golden age', as for example Zanzibar in the German case.As a contribution to the understanding of German, British and French collective identity constructions, the aim of this study is to include the specific strands of tourism discourse in their origins and development in the 1960s and to explore their various functions. The objective of the sub-project is to offer a new perspective on historical popular cultural issues in order to contribute to the transnational comparison of social changes in the long 1960s.
DFG Programme
Research Units
International Connection
Luxembourg
Partner Organisation
Fonds National de la Recherche
