Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands: the Aspirations and Experiences of a UK Caribbean Community

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Current Issues in Tourism

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Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands: The Aspirations and Experiences of a UK Caribbean Community

Marcus L. Stephenson

To cite this article: Marcus L. Stephenson (2002) Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands: The Aspirations and Experiences of a UK Caribbean Community, Current Issues in Tourism, 5:5, 378-425, DOI: 10.1080/13683500208667932

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Published online: 29 Mar 2010.

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Download by: [University of the South Pacific] Date: 01 February 2016, At: 15:57 Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands: The Aspirations and Experiences of a UK Caribbean Community

Marcus L. Stephenson Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Tourism, International Institute for Culture, Tourism and Development, University of North London, 277–281 Holloway Road, London N7 8HN, UK

Thispaper is based on anethnographic study of theCaribbean community of Moss Side,Manchester (UK). Its aim isto reveal,interpret and analysethe personal meanings which membersof thecommunity attachto visitingthe ancestral homeland in the Caribbean.This form of travelis definedin termsof ‘ethnicreunion’ , which involves travellingfor the purpose of visitingfriends and relativesand/ or searchingfor one’ s culturalroots. The study, which isbased on aninterpretive analysis of arangeof ethnographicmaterial, initially examines the reasons why first-and second-generation Caribbeanswish to participatein the‘ homeland experience’, and thenillustrates ways inwhich they reconstructan identity of themselvesthrough theirtravel perceptions and experiences.The latterpart of thepaper discusses how people’s travelencounters serveto illustratehow ethnicdifference sand boundariesbetween groups are constructedand/ or reconstructed.It is arguedthat established perspectives of tourism motivation and behaviour do not fullyaccount for the role of ethnicityas a significant variablein influencingspecific forms of travel.The conclusion assertsthat ethnic reunion should beconceptually viewed as a distinctform of ‘travel’, socioculturally dissimilar to conventional forms of ‘tourism’.

Introduction ‘Ethnicity’is a commonlydiscussed component of tourismmotivation, usually associatedwith an individual’s desire tobe acquaintedwith other ethnic communitiesand attain cultural knowledge of their customsand way of life (Harron& Weiler, 1992;Smith, 1989; Van den Berghe &Keyes, 1984).Thus, the ethnicity variablepredominantly applies tothose forms of tourismwherever ethnic resourcesfeature asmajor‘ pull factors’of motivation(e.g. ethnic cuisine, artsand folklore). These motivationalresources have encouraged the growthof ‘ethnic tourism’(Smith: 1989:4), i.e. a formof tourismmanufactured from the desire toseek outthe culturalexoticism of other ethnic groupsand societies (Harron& Weiler, 1992).Although ethnic tourismhas historically been exam- Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 ined withinthe contextof non-Western societies(Harron & Weiler, 1992;Smith, 1989;Van den Berghe &Keyes, 1984),ethnic groupsand cultures within Western urban communitieshave also become increasingly exoticisedand commoditised under the influence of the ‘tourist gaze’ (Urry, 1990: 144). However,the view ofethnicity asasignificant‘ pull factor’of motivationtends tounderplay the roleof ethnicity asthe initialor primary motivation. There isa need toconsider how people’ s aspirationsand preferences aredirectly influenced by their value systems,beliefs, opinionsand cultural backgrounds. While someenquiries havedrawn attention to the religious characteristicsand cultural

Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 379

traitsof ‘ nationalcommunities’ as prime indicatorsin explaining traveland tourismbehaviour (Din, 1989;Pizam & Sussmann,1995; Ritter, 1987), the behav- iouralcharacteristics of thoseethnic minoritygroups who reside in such communitieshave not been significantlyaddressed in the studyof tourismand ethnicity.Given thatWestern (tourist-generating) societiesare increasingly cosmopolitanin natureand form (Dann, 1993),it is important to consider the motivationalchoices and travel experiences ofparticularminority groups. More- over,there isa need torecognise that‘ ethnic tourism’manifests other conceptual meanings.As King notes:‘ The otherand less frequent use ofthe termethnic tour- ismis where itapplies totravel movements whose primary motivation is ethnic reunion’ (1994: 173–4). In thiscontext, ethnic reunion involvesvisiting friends andrelatives 1 and/or searchingor re-searching forone’ s culturalroots (King, 1994).This form of travel hasbeen identified asa popular activityfor a number ofethnic communities living overseas:Barbadian (Western, 1992),Greek Cypriot(Thanopoulos & Walle,1988), Pakistani (Khan, 1977)andTurkish communities(Liu et al., 1984). Some ofthese studiesdirectly focused onthe economicdimensions of the VFR (visiting friends andrelatives) market, highlighting howhigh disposable incomesare important in determining the frequency ofvisits to the ancestral homeland(Thanopoulos & Walle,1988) and how such forms of travel have a significantimpact on the homelandeconomy (Liu et al.,1984).Importantly, recent technologicaldevelopments andadvancements in transportand communicationnetworks have created more opportunities for (diasporic) minority groupsto travel to places of ethnic significance,thereby encouraging such groupsto strengthen their ‘borderrelations with the oldcountry’ 2 (Clifford, 1994: 304). Nevertheless,enquiries concerning ethnic reunion issuesin tourismhave not generally examined the socioculturalfactors which influence individualsto travelto their ancestralhomelands. Furthermore, they havenot significantly addressedthe complexnature of subsequent encountersand experiences. A fuller understandingof the interrelationshipsbetween ethnicity,tourism and ethnic reunion requires adeeper theoreticaland empirical analysis. The process ofestablishing and implementing adetailedmethodological approach to the study of ethnic reunion is advanced in the next section of this paper. If ethnicity isinterpreted simplisticallyas a processby whichindividuals allude toa sense of belonging togroups with similar sociocultural traits and

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 normativebehaviour (Drury, 1994),then suchdimensions may havea bearing on howtravel aspirations and experiences areconstructed. This paper identifies andexamines sociocultural meanings associated with travelling to the ancestral homelandsin the Caribbean.Thus the workis basedon ethnographicresearch conductedin the Caribbean communityof MossSide, Manchester(UK), adistrict locatedone mile south-westof the citycentre. The studygroup iscomposed of a researchconfederate, key informantsand a range ofpeople living orworkingin the Moss Side district. The studyinitially identifies the personalquests and social obligations associatedwith ethnic reunion. By consideringtwo specific ‘primaryreference groups’3(Moutinho,1987: 8), peers andmatriarchal relatives, it then highlights the socialfactors which encourage individualsto attachthemselves to the ances- 380 Current Issues in Tourism

tralhomeland. The analysisdirects attention to how mothers and grandmothers havea productiverole in encouraging their children andgrandchildren to establisha closerelationship with their place of origin.It is asserted that cultural knowledge, reproduced throughmatriarchal and peer group networks,poten- tiallyenables individualsto formulatea personalconnection with, and create a place imageof, the homeland.The lattersection of the studyexamines the contrastingways in whichindividuals perceive andclassify their rolesas ‘non-tourists’, ‘locals’/ ’hosts’and ‘ foreigners’. Finally, itincorporates an analysisof the culturalcodes of behaviour andcustomary practices associated with ethnic reunion, in particular,the giving ofpresentsto relatives on arrivalat the ancestraldestination. Importantly, this practice illustrates the culturalsignifi- canceof the reciprocalrelationships that coexist between visitorsand family members. In orderto identify the fundamentalbehavioural components of ethnic reunion, itis necessary to consider those commonly discussed social attributes of tourismmotivation and behaviour. Accordingly, the workdiscusses whether the desire tovisitthe ancestralhomeland manifests a collectiveand religious quest (MacCannell,1976; Graburn, 1983, 1989) and incorporates a need totranscend the ‘socialdislocations’ of everyday life (Cohen &Taylor,1992; Krippendorf, 1987;MacCannell, 1976). It also addresses the extent towhich homelandexperi- ences promote‘ self-actualisation’(Pearce &Caltabiano,1983), contribute to an ‘enhanced ego’(Dann, 1977)or an elevated ‘socialstatus’ (Crompton, 1979; Smith,1993), and involve ‘ anti-structural’types ofbehaviourthat are distinct fromthe normsand structures of everyday life (Gottlieb,1982; Graburn, 1983, 1989; Jafari, 1987). In anattempt to draw reference tomore recently identified formsof tourism experiences andaspirations, the workcompares ethnic reunion with‘ post-tourist’(Feifer, 1985:259) formsof behaviour.It is noted that post-tourists are increasingly awareof the range ofchoicesand the diversityof experiences availableto themin a(postmodern)society of intense consumption(Rojek, 1993;Urry, 1990). They arealso apparently consciousthat they cannotfully disengage frombeing perceived astouristsand cannot successfully challenge the socialdistances that prevail withinhost communities (Feifer, 1985;Rojek, 1993; Urry, 1990). Such analystsgenerally maintainthat these touristsremain as socialoutsiders during their visitsto othercommunities and destinations, often movingfrom one desti- nationto the nextin the hope ofexperiencing adiversityof situations and

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 encounters.It is also asserted that post-tourists are able toimagine themselvesas touristsor travellersin the contextof their homeenvironment. Hence, there isno realneed totravelto fully appreciateother destinations and engage in tourism experiences, especially astechnological advertising and media forms of commu- nicationactively create opportunities for individuals to perceive themselvesas tourists,thereby enabling themto develop their ownpersonal identities (Feifer, 1985;Rojek, 1993; Urry, 1990). Consequently, thispaper considersthe extent to which ethnic reunion involveselements ofchoice,encompasses induced aspirationsand experiences, andembodies aseriesof transientencounters characterised by role awareness and role distance. Despite the recent emphasisconcerning the decentred natureof the tourism experience, ithas been popularly assertedthat tourists actually aspire for more Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 381

grounded andunfamiliar experiences; thosewhich reflect acontrastto the contrivedand meaningless experiences of everyday life (MacCannell,1976). Holisticexperiences, whichinvolve socially interactive forms of behaviour, collectivepractices, transformative lifestyles andemancipatory-based encounters,potentially enable individualsto formulate and adopt a touristidentity (Cohen &Taylor,1992; Jafari, 1987). In anattemptto provide adetailedexamina- tionof people’ s perceptions ofthe ancestralhomeland, the workaddresses whether ethnic reunion manifestssimilar patterns of behaviourand whether destinationexperiences actuallyencourage individualsto perceive themselves as tourists. Yetethnic reunion mayencourage individualsto reconstruct an identity of themselvesbased on ethnic-type attributesand forms of behaviour consideredto be non-touristicin bothcharacter and form. Subsequently, the studydraws upon anthropologicalissues concerned withidentifying the socialand cultural content ofethnicity, i.e. boundary maintenance, ethnic ascriptionand individual/ group identity (Barth,1969; Eriksen, 1991). Accordingly, Barth (1969) stresses the importanceof considering the socialcontexts and situations which serve to communicatecultural differences between groups.He emphasisesthat social actorshave a crucialrole in maintainingethnic boundariesand in determining their ownethnicities. The interactiverelationships that individuals have with particularsocial organisations (e.g. kinship andcommunity networks) enable themto express the ‘culturalfeatures’ of their ethnic unit (Barth,1969: 14). This perspective, commonlyknown as the situationalapproach 4 tothe studyof ethnic groups,emphasises that ethnicity shouldbe perceived moreas asociallyinterac- tiveprocess than as abounded phenomenon, where culturaldifferences between groupsare socially communicated through interpersonal encounters. This approachpays special attention to howpeople’ s ethnic identitiesare articulated withina range ofcontexts and situations, and how such identities serve torepre- sentcultural differences andsimilarities with other individuals, groups and societies. Concernover the socioculturalconsequences ofthe globalisationof traveland mobility,and the growthof migrantnetworks and communities, has encouraged recent enquiries toconsiderthe range ofemergent ethnicities,transnational identitiesand ethnic relationshipsdeveloping in cosmopolitan-basedsocieties (Clif- ford,1994, 1997; Cohen,1997; Kaplan, 1996). Other related enquiries havestarted toaddress the changing natureof Caribbean identitiesand cultures, drawing

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 specialattention to howethnicity andidentity arebecoming morehybridised in characterand form (Gilroy, 1993a, 1993b; Hall, 1990, 1991, 1996). Hall (1990) provides an explanation of what is meant by a hybrid identity: The diasporaexperience ...isdefined, notby essence orpurity, but by the recognitionof anecessaryheterogeneity anddiversity; by aconceptionof ‘identity’which lives with and through, not despite, difference; by hybridity. (1990: 235) Thus,it is assertedthat conceptualisations of (diasporic)ethnic identitiesare by nomeans absolute or definitive; if anything they arediverse andflexible. Impor- tantly,some analysts have emphasised that ethnic formsof identity (e.g. language andmusic) are not essentially or mimeticallyproducts of the ancestral 382 Current Issues in Tourism

homeland,but areconstituted by amixtureof culturalinfluences andforms (Gilroy,1993a, 5 1993b;Hebdige, 1987).Discussions concerning the degree to which individualsand groups mediate their identitiesand negotiate their experiences withindifferent socio-spatialcontexts could help toprovide important insightsinto how identities are more dynamic, interchangeable andnegotiable. Otheranalysts have argued forthe need toconsider the politicaldimensions ofethnicity,particularly issues concerning howethnic boundariescan be rene- gotiatedor repositioned and how identities can be reinscribed orrethought throughpower-type relationshipscoexisting between individualsand groups (Bhabha,1994; Hall, 1990, 1991, 1996; Jenkins, 1997).Bhabha (1994), for instance, maintainsthat ethnicity andidentity shouldbe consideredwithin a postcolonial frameworkof analysis,whereby identitiesand affiliations should be understood throughtheir (con)temporaryassociation with the dynamicand changing nature ofpowerrelations rather than by anyaffirmative connection to their historical origins.Jenkins (1997)argues that relationships of powerrelate to the wayin whichsocial categorisations and ascriptions are articulated by andimposed on particularethnic groups.Therefore, ethnic identitiesand boundaries are augmented through a process of perceiving, categorising and labelling others: Ethnicitymay ...be strengthened orgenerated asaresponseto categoriza- tion;similarly, an aspectof one group’s ethnicity maybe, indeed islikely to be, the categorieswith which itlabels other groups or collectivities. (Jenkins, 1997: 23) Given thatthe forthcominganalysis directs attention to how members ofthe UKCaribbean communityperceive andcategorisethemselves and others (hosts andtourists) during their sojournin the ancestralislands, it is considered impor- tantto explore howpolitical relationships may have a directinfluence onthe way in which ethnic identity is constructed and/or reconstructed. In anattempt to present aclearexposition of how this empirically based enquiry wasdeveloped andto justify the subsequent analyticalprocedures involved,it is now necessary to discussthe methodologicalapplications and the epistemological components of this study.

The Ethnographic Approach: Methods and Strategies

Research environment and study group

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Thispaper isthe productof ethnographic research conducted from 1993– 1996 in the vicinityof Moss Side, Manchester,England. This district contains Manches- ter’s largestnumber ofCaribbean residents, approaching 3000 (Manchester City Council,1993). The UKCaribbeanCommunity is culturally diverse, including migrantsand their descendantsoriginating from various Caribbean islandsof the formerBritish colonies (e.g. Barbados,Jamaica and St Lucia).The ‘Carib- bean’/ ’black’minority is the second-largestnon-European minoritygroup in the UK,totallingover 600,000 (Ballard & Kalra,1994) and living predominantlyin urban areas(Skellington, 1992).This group emigratedto Britainfrom the 1940s andsought employment in bothmanufacturing and service sector industries, especially tourism,catering and transport (Fryer, 1984).Residence waslargely differentiated by place oforigin: Dominicans resided in Preston,Nevisians Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 383

migratedto Leicester andJamaicans settled in avarietyof urban areassuch as Birmingham,Derby, Londonand Manchester (Byron, 1994; Peach, 1984). Settle- mentwas encouraged anddeveloped throughsocial and kinship ties,i.e. ‘migrantnetworks’ (Byron, 1994). Migrants moved to inner-city areas,such as MossSide, where accommodationwas affordable. These districtswere closeto the manufacturingand transport industries where demandfor labour was rela- tively high (Reid, 1956). MossSide isthe mainresidential and cultural centre ofManchester’s Carib- bean community.Therefore, itwas considered appropriate for the researcherto live in the areain orderto conduct a longitudinalstudy. This approach has obvi- ousadvantages in comparisonto thoseshort-term methods of qualitativeinves- tigation(e.g. ‘rapidethnographic assessment’ 6).Forinstance, it isasserted that regular researchcontact with community members enables localsystems of thoughtto be developed andclarified overa significantperiod (Hammersley& Atkinson,1983). Yet the effectiveness of the longitudinalapproach depends upon the qualityof relationships that researchers have with members ofthe studygroup, the extent towhich they areprepared tocross-examine the effec- tivenessof their ownmethods and strategies, and also on the wayin which they areable tolearn from the environmentsin which they areworking(Walsh, 1998). Nonetheless,if there isan intent toestablish in-depth interactionswith those studied,develop relationshipsbased on trust and represent the ‘multivocal concerns’of the community(Bianchi, 1999), then long-term immersionin the field settingshould be consideredas animportant prerequisite ofethnographic research. Longitudinalethnographies have been employed in the studyof raceand ethnicity inUKurban communities.Examples include Cottle’s (1978)qualitative investigationof aselectionof West Indian familiesin London,Pryce’ s (1986) fieldwork investigationof the WestIndian Communityin St Paul’s (Bristol)and Alexander’s (1996)in-depth studyof asmallgroup ofyoung blackBritons living in London.These studiescontributed to a criticalunderstanding of the diverse natureand social character of black communities, focusing specifically onissues relatingto family life (Cottle,1978), black youth culture andidentity (Alexander, 1996),and the racialand social problems affecting members ofthe Caribbean diaspora (Pryce, 1986). The followingstudy is based on a collectionof narratives and accounts concernedwith travel and tourism aspirations, events and experiences. Although

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 thispaper presentsan analyticalsummary of people’ s perceptions oftravelling to the ancestralislands, it should be notedthat the wider researchprogramme also soughtviews regarding the natureand significance oftravellingto UK urban andrural destinations, and to other European countries.Given that‘ homeland travel’often featured asa moreimportant priority for members ofthe study group, the authorhas decided todiscussat length the socioculturalrelevance of this form of travel. In anattemptto retrieve arange ofinformation concerning people’s percep- tionsof traveland tourism, the ethnographicstudy employed multiple methods ofinvestigation: informal/ unstructuredinterviews with community functionaries fromprivate and public organisations,serial interviews with 15 key informants7 andfriendly conversations 8 withmembers ofthe localpopulation. 384 Current Issues in Tourism

The fieldwork programmealso employed participatoryand observational techniques, developed throughan activeinvolvement in the affairsof the community ofMossSide. 9 The fieldwork programmewas aidedby a‘researchconfederate’ , Junior, who was a senior youth worker in Moss Side. Contactwith Junior occurredas aconsequence ofanappointment arranged by hiscousin, the researcher’s formercolleague atthe ManchesterMetropolitan University(MMU), the institutionwhich sponsored the researchprogramme. Junior wasinitially suspicious of the natureof the researchprogramme, ques- tioningwhy ‘white people’always want to research‘ blackpeople’ s business’. Yetafter several weeks ofnegotiatingwith Junior the importanceof understanding otherpeople’ s perspectives andexperiences througha naturalinvolvement in communitylife, Junior wasprepared toadopt a morepro-active role in the study.He often presented hisopinions on unfolding topics,facilitated the researcherin accessingparticular places and venues, andalso introduced him to variousmembers ofthe community.The researcherworked with Junior ona voluntarybasis at hisYouth Centre andoften accompaniedhim onevenings out, daytripsand weekend breaks.Junior alsoinvited the researcherto participate in variouscommunity events (e.g. cricketand dance festivals) and celebrations (e.g. birthdays, weddings and wakes). Given thatthe researcherwas of a different ethnic backgroundto the study group andwas not initially familiar with the geographicalarea or culture studied, Junior’s involvementin the studywas considered to be crucial.His knowledge of the MossSide districtand his various contacts with individuals and community-basedorganisations were invaluable tothe researchprogramme. Thosewho have studied ethnic minoritieswithin urban settingshave recognised the necessaryrole that research confederates (‘ gate keepers’ ) havein determining accessand in helping the researcherbecome moreacquainted with the culture and group being studied(Liebow, 1967;Whyte, 1981).In hisethnographic study of an ItalianAmerican street-corner gang in southBoston, Whyte (1981)acknowledged howhis confederate, Doc, the gang leader,enabled him togaindirect access to particularsocial networks that would have been difficult toachieve through independent means.Likewise, Liebow (1967),who studied the lifestyles ofa group ofblack males living in alow-incomedistrict of WashingtonDC, found thathis close relationship with a dominantmember ofthe group, Tally,encouraged him to become more familiar with, and accepted by, other members. Junior recommended severalof hisfriends tobe interviewed, someof whom

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 became key informants.Contact with other key informantswas established throughvarious intermediaries: a studentat MMU, adevelopment workerat the MossSide andHulme CommunityDevelopment Trustand a friend whoworked fora communityfilm organisationin MossSide. Thusthe selectionof informants wasnot significantly based on a formalor conventional process, but transpired through personal contact and informal introductions. In the contextof thisstudy, the key informantswere thosewith whom the researchermaintained regular contactthroughout the researchprogramme. They were alwayswilling topresent their opinions,describe their experiences andgenerally help the researcherunderstand the concernsof the wider Carib- bean community.These individualswere simply classifiedas informantsonce it wasrealised that they hadmade a significantcontribution to the research Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 385

programme,especially in termsof providing detailedviewpoints, advice and personalsupport. While itis noted that there arevarious types ofinformants (Hammersley& Atkinson,1983: 116– 17), the conceptualapplication of ‘ key informants’in thisresearch programme should be viewed in contrastto other members ofstudy group: thosewho were simply observed;those who were involvedin ‘friendly conversations’with the researcher;and those formal members ofthe community(community functionaries) who were usually interviewed onjust one occasionduring the researchprogramme (e.g. localpoliti- cians and various members of community organisations). The key informantsappearing inthispaper were borneither inthe Caribbean (Antonio,Caroline, Elaine, Marvin and Paulette) orin the UK(Cheryl, Dawn, Delphene, Errol,Joyce, Lloydand Valerie). They originatedfrom one ortwoof the following countriesin the Caribbean:Barbados (Antonio, Delphene and Elaine), Grenada(Joyce), Guyana(Dawn, Delphene), Jamaica(Caroline, Cheryl, Errol,Joyce, Lloyd,Paulette andValerie), St Vincent (Marvin) andTrinidad (Dawn). Although MossSide islargely occupied by thoseof Jamaican origin, the range ofislandbackgrounds reflected in thisstudy suggests that the community is by no means ethnically homogeneous.

Ethnographic procedure and practice: A qualitative approach The processof developing aninsight into people’ s feelings, attitudesand experiences isconsideredto be anecessaryprerequisite forunderstanding what individualsactually do (or do notdo): to account,that is, for the intrinsicand extrinsicfactors which influence the choicesand range ofdecisionsthat individ- ualsmake (Fielding &Fielding, 1986).This study developed aqualitative approachby focusing onpeople’ s opinions,insights and experiences, andby situatingthe socialphenomena studied(i.e. tourismand travel) within its own contextand setting. Importantly, it is argued thatqualitative studies can provide ‘contextualinformation’ and a ‘richinsight into human behaviour’ (Guba & Lincoln,1994: 106), especially ifthere isan attempt to account for people’ s inter- pretationsand meanings from the standpointof their ownsocially informed environments and situational contexts. Thoseindividuals who were metthrough brief encountersin the field were unawareof the natureof the researchprogramme. These encounterswere based onfriendly conversations,casual discussions and reflexive observations.Local shops,public houses,community centres and the saunawere allprime sourcesof

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 information.The researcherwas generally searchingfor utterances and opinions relatingto people’s perceptions oftourism and travel, i.e. motivations and aspi- rationsto travel,particular places visited or notvisited, choices made and experiences encountered. One obviousmechanism to encourage people totalkabout their ancestralhomeland was to ask if they hadvisited, or hadany intention to visit,the Caribbean.The researcherwould then seek explanationsin anattempt clarifyissues raised, but thisobviously depended onthe natureof the dialogue andthe level ofintensity of the conversation.It was easier to openly communi- cateand establish continuous conversations once the researcherhad become familiarwith the culturalnorms of the communityand the situationalcontext of the ancestralhomeland in people’s lives.Therefore, itwas necessary to develop anawareness of particular events and places in the Caribbean,interpret 386 Current Issues in Tourism

language systems(creole andblack/ Manchesterdialect) and understand the culturalidiosyncrasies of the Caribbeancommunity (gestures, localhumour and leisure pursuits).Importantly, Gilroy states: ‘ People whowant to writeanalyti- callyabout black cultures will haveto learn to cope withthem. This is a difficult process’ (1993a: 3). The learning process,which focused on comingto termsthe normsand ideologiesof the Caribbean community,occasionally proved to be sociallyproblem- atic.Nonetheless, the researcherpersisted with a systematicapproach involving aslowand gradual engagement in the field. The initialobservations and casual conversations,occurring in the firstsix months of the researchprogramme, produced arange ofbasicthemes which helped toinform subsequent discus- sionsand encounters. This preliminary knowledge alsoprovided aframework fordiscussion within the ethnographicinterviews with key informants.During the fieldwork programmemuch timewas spent simply observing andlistening todiscussions.Issues were raisedonly when itseemed sociallyappropriate to do so.Increased familiarity between the researcherand particular community members gradually encouraged an open rapport. The covertnature of the fieldwork programmeinfluenced the wayin which observationalmaterial was collected. Hence, conversationsand observations were usually notedon barmats, newspapers and cigarette packets. Unconven- tionalplaces such as public conveniences were useful torecord the information obtained.As the researchermainly relied onmemoryto recordinformation, it wasnot always possible tonote the exactsequence andthe correctgrammatical expressionsand subtleties ofevery appropriateconversation, particularly those whichwere quite detailed.Yet the problemsof recalling allthat is heard and observedin itscorrect form has left ethnographicresearch open tocriticism, especially ifresearchersdo not employ recordingdevices suchas dictaphones.It isargued thatreliance onmemorycan inevitably resultin misinterpretationand therefore canproduce inaccurateaccounts of the livesof those concerned (Bryman& Burgess,1994; Werner &Schoepfle, 1987).However, the employment ofrecordingdevises during informalfield encountersmay be ‘cumbersome’and ‘intrusive’(Cottle, 1978: 9), and also may not be ethicallyappropriate in situationswhere researchershave not explained the natureof their enquiries tothose being observed.It is stillpossible torecall limited amountsof succinct informa- tionin itsraw form without the use ofataperecorder as long asinformationis comprehensively notedimmediately after the event. Nonetheless,the processof

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 ‘reframing’(rather than rephrasing) anecdotalmaterial and restructuring observations,impressions and ‘ symbolicrepresentations’ of particular cultures is generally believed tobe appropriatein the productionof anethnographictext (Thomas,1993: 43), especially if there isan intent toproduce aninformative portrayalof the valuesand experiences ofthe community(via a mixtureof ethnographic applications). The researcherregularly used afieldwork diaryto register the dataand tran- scribe the fieldwork notes.The researcherwould often attach‘ analyticmemos’ (Hammersley& Atkinson,1983: 164) to sections of thismaterial in anattemptto criticallyreflect onpersonalobservations, conversations and key events.These memosincluded ongoing assessmentsof progressmade, thoughts concerning the researcher’s personalencounters and experiences in the field, andpersonal Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 387

reflectionson the researcher’s relationshipswith members ofthe studygroup. They alsoconsisted of conceptualideas for creating thematic links between the dataand suggestions for connecting the datato emerging theoreticalparadigms. Importantly,the diaryis considered to be the ‘brick andmortar of an ethnographicstructure’ (Fetterman, 1989: 107), particularly if itis used forthe purpose of assembling data in a clear and consistent manner. Ethnographicinterviewing withthe firstof the key informantsbegan after seven monthsof fieldwork involvement.However, the majorityof the inter- viewsoccurred after 12 months of being inthe field. Informantswere meton at leastone occasionbefore the interview wasarranged. This slow process of intro- ductionallowed for discussions to be lessrestrained and for the researcherto be seen aslessobtrusive in hisenquiries. The ratherfrank andpersonal nature of the anecdotalmaterial presented in the forthcomingtext indicates that informants seemed comfortablewith the natureof the discussionand thismethod of investi- gation. The amountof timespent interviewing key informantsusually depended on the timefor which they were availableand whether ornotissues required further explication.Informants were generally interviewed onatleastthree occasions. Thisstrategy allowed for issues to be graduallyclarified andalso encouraged new pointsof reference tobe established.On otheroccasions discussions had takenplace throughtelephone conversationsand as a consequence ofchance encountersin the field. Informationwas usually taperecorded during the arrangedmeetings, thusproducing asignificantamount of detailedinformation.

Ethnographic analysis: The search for multiple meanings and explanations The overridingobjective ofthe followinganalysis is to present the diverse opinionsof members ofthe studygroup througha range ofethnographically basedexplanations. It should be notedthat there isno direct attempt to searchfor absoluteor definitive conclusionsfrom the viewsof thoseconcerned. As Gilroy states:‘ Heterodoxopinions justify themselvesnot because they arecorrect or conclusive,but because weneed tobe able toaskquestions without knowing where answeringthem will lead’(1993a: 15). This claim represents asimilar point,highlighted byClifford,who maintained that ‘ wecannolonger knowthe whole truth,or even ever claimto approach it’ (1986: 25). Ethnographers concernedwith providing ahumanisticunderstanding of aparticularway of life

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 shouldnot necessarily be obsessedwith searching for fixed representationsof truth,but shouldconstructively present ananalysiswhich represents a‘polyph- ony of voices’ (Duncan & Ley, 1993: 8). Studies whichseek toexpose multiple perspectives andpersonal opinions haveoften been accusedof being insufficiently rigorousand overly subjective (Walle, 1997).Moreover, it could be claimedthat ethnographic texts are the productof the idiosyncraticimpressions of researchersrather than objective assessmentsof the phenomena studied.Nevertheless, researchers can attempt to decentre their ownsubjective perceptions by centralisingthe concernsof the studygroup, developed throughthe presentationof detailed anecdotal and observationalmaterial, to a wider audience. Itis possible forthis process to be managedby whathas been termedthe ‘reflexive rationalizationof conduct’ 388 Current Issues in Tourism

(May, 1993:116),where researchersdirectly acknowledge andexplain their roles withrespect to the processof collectingthe information,analysing the dataand presenting the ethnographictext. The reflexive approachclarifies the stepstaken in bringing the opinionsof othersto the forefrontof ethnographicrepresentation andanalysis. Yet as Duncan andLey (1993:8) maintain, the productionof a completely decentred analysisis difficult toachieve asresearchers have usually ‘defined the project in the firstplace’ . Thus,researchers are faced with the almost impossibletask of challenging their ‘politicalauthority’ and ‘ representational control’over the productionof the ethnographictext (Duncan &Ley, 1993:8). Nevertheless,any genuine attemptto openly express,articulate and sensitively portraypeople’ s viewpointsand opinions may help tocounterbalance the hier- archical nature of ethnographic writings and representations. The in-depth approachto this study and the range ofmethodsemployed have imposedrestrictions on the qualityand quantity of material presented. The following ethnographicdata is therefore selective asnot all of the viewsof the original15 key informantsare represented andnot all observations are detailed. Also,anecdotal references foreach particular issue arenot equally highlighted. Yetin anendeavourto establisha web ofknowledge andproduce anetworkof multiple meanings,the followingtext does seek toengage avarietyof opinions; thosewhich ‘ establishrelations of similarityand difference withthe socialworld itreports’ (Atkinson, 1990: 15). In anattemptto represent the diverse attitudes andexperiences of the studygroup, the textualanalysis thematically experi- mentswith a varietyof narratives and personal interpretations. However, there isno attempt to check the validityof informationvia rigid comparisonsof data. The ethnographicmaterial is thus analysed in asimilarmanner to the ‘crystalli- zationapproach’ in socialstrategies of inquiry. Richardsonexplains this approach: Crystallization,without losing structure, deconstructs the traditionalidea of‘validity’(we feel howthere isno single truth,we see howtexts validate themselves);and crystallization provides us with a deepened, complex, thoroughlypartial, understanding of the topic.Paradoxically, we know more and doubt what we know. (1994: 522) The crystallizationprocess adopted in thisresearch programme attempts to produce adetailedand diverse analysisof the subject-matter,one which high- lightsand evaluates multiple meaningsand truths through the contextualisation

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 ofpersonalnarratives and interactive discussions. This process is encouraged throughthe employment ofseveral methods of ethnographicinvestigation, with the intentionof producing variousstrips of data(e.g. observations,anecdotal materialand interactive conversations). The thematicanalysis and use ofdiverse ethnographicmaterial help tostructure and to shape (i.e. ‘crystallize’) subsequent ideas and arguments. The ethnographicrepresentations contained in thispaper present achallenge tothosesocial scientific enquiries oftourism behaviour concerned withdevelop- ing arange ofconceptualclassifications of tourists,examples being the ‘authentic tourists’(MacCannell, 1976), the ‘existentialtourists’ (Cohen, 1979,1988) and the ‘post-tourists’(Feifer, 1985;Urry, 1990). While these conceptsare thought provoking,they arenotsystematically drawn from personal accounts and criti- Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 389

calincidents in the livesof thoseconcerned. Although MacCannell’s (1976) perspective concerning the socialattributes of the ‘modernday tourist’ was informed byvariousdata sources (e.g. oraland written commentaries by andon tourists,excerpts from newspapers, brochures and travel guides), hiswork has been criticisedfor not being rigorousor systematic in termsof data collection methodsand strategies 10 (Moore,1985). MacCannell’ s myriadof arbitrary inferences ofwhy andhow people traveland experience tourismperhaps led toa moregeneralised perspective concerning auniversaltype oftourist with one particularmotive: the searchfor authentic experiences. The identificationof specific types oftravellerswith unique aspirations,experiences andencounters was not fully approached in MacCannell’s analysis. Arange ofrecent enquiries presented in the edited texts TouringCultures (Rojek &Urry,1997) and TheTourist Experience (Ryan,1997a) have attempted to deconstructcontemporary forms of tourismbehaviour. They havecontributed toan understanding of particular tourist attributes and perceptions: motiva- tionaltraits and dispositions (Ryan, 1997b), urban experiences (Page, 1997), beach experiences (Ryan,1997c), meanings and interpretations of events(Craik, 1997),and tourist sights (Rojek, 1997)and identifications (Jokinen &Veijola, 1997).Yet these contributionsdo not significantly deal with the valuessystems andopinions of tourists,particularly as their perceptions arenothighlighted or presented in anyempiricaldepth. Itmay notbe the intentionof such enquiries to present ordirectlyrepresent the ‘touristvoice’ , but continualspeculation within tourismstudies concerning touristroles, identities, cultures and behaviour patternsimplies thatthe ‘tourist’remains as anacademicconstruct, imagined and mythologised by ‘armchair analysts’. Ethnographicenquiries shouldgenerally be moreactive and seek toinformor formulatetheoretical frameworks through detailed ethnographic representationsof touristperceptions. Discussions of individuals outside of their own conceptuallyinformed frameworksand sociocultural environments can poten- tiallylead to their disempowermentfrom the representationalprocess of analysis.If tourismenquiries donot fully addressthe perspectives of the subjects themselvesit could be assertedthat ‘ oursocial scientific work risks being descriptively poorand ethnocentric’ (Crick, 1989: 338). Enquiries shouldbe more humanisticin their intent,approach and task, even ifitisto be acknowledged that‘ one cannotcompletely escape fromethnocentrism, for by definition all representationsare inextricably intertwined withthe theory-laden categoriesof

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 the research’ (Duncan & Ley, 1993: 8). Itis considered necessary to directlywitness and sensitively observeothers in their localisedcontexts and settings by paying specialattention to aspects of ‘vocality’: intersubjective meanings,plurivocal expressions and grammatical vocalisations(Hollinshead, 1998: 75). The development ofahumanisticinsight intothe lived experiences ofmembers ofacommunity,culture orsocialgroup, wouldpresent animportantchallenge tothoseperspectives derived fromrather relativisticinterpretations of tourismbehaviour. Thus ‘ itis the explanations whichinterviewed orobserved individuals ascribe to culturalforms that matter’ (Hollinshead,1991: 657).These explanationscould enable researchersto present moreempirically informed perspectives concerning the possible reasonswhy certain behaviour patterns occur and how particular percepts emerge. 390 Current Issues in Tourism

Finally, itshould be notedthat within the followingtext the namesof all participantsand some of the researchplaces visited are accorded typical Carib- bean andprovincial names as pseudonyms.Some viewsare of apersonalnature andthe intent isto avoid direct implication. The grammaticalutterances and expressionsare presented intheir originalform anddialect. Some ofthe vernacu- larmaterial may appear to be offensive tothe reader.Yet the narrationof ‘folk terminologies’and ‘ culturalvocabularies’ is believed tobe anessentialpractice in the presentationof anethnographictext (Atkinson, 1990: 168).The building of ‘participantthinking’ into the textpermits meanings and messages to flowfrom the participantsand therefore displaysthe level ofimportance they ascribeto particularaspirations and experiences. Consequently, itis important for researchersto ‘ hearthe kind ofmessages that the othersin the culture hear’ (Benney & Hughes, 1984: 223).

Travelling to the Ancestral Homeland: Aspirations and Connections

Cultural needs, personal quests and social obligations Atthe Wellington, apopular public house forfirst- and second-generation members ofthe Caribbean community,the firstmeeting washeld withJunior, a second-generationJamaican born in MossSide in the mid-1950s.The researcher naively askedJunior tooutline hisdestination preferences. He immediately proclaimed,‘ Watchme now’. Hethen shoutedover to his friend Edandques- tionedhim, ‘ If you hadmoney Ed,where wouldyou go?’Ed responded in an equanimousmanner, ‘ Jamaicaman!’ Junior persistentlyquestioned him,‘ What about the next time . . . where y’go?’ Ed reaffirmed his travel preference: I’dwaitand save up againand go again to Jamaica.Yes mi goback-a-Yard [Jamaica]. All de time mi waan go Yard. Junior then turned to the researcher and laughingly declared: There isyour answer, write it down in yourlittle book and don’ t askany more nonsense questions . . . You white people are full of shit! Ed’s responseexpressed aninstantaneousdesire tovisitthe ancestralhome- landand was the firstof manysimilar responses to emerge fromvarious inter- viewsand observed conversations. Such desireswere often communicated throughnarratives which highlighted the importanceof travelin termsof an Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 expressed necessity.Valerie, forinstance, who had travelled to Jamaicafor the first time in her mid-20s, explained her aspirations: When Iwentto Jamaicafor a holidaylast year [1994], I wentbecause itis somethingI really wantedand needed todo, to see whatit was like and where Iwasfrom.I wantto go again, once isn’ t enough really ...Jamaicais in me now more than ever. Elaine,who lived in Barbadosuntil her earlyteens andhad since visitedthe island in 1983 and 1995, stated: Youdon’ t see yourfamily thatoften, so the obviouschoice is to gosomewhere where you havenot been very often ...thatis the reasonwhy alotof Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 391

WestIndian familiesgo backto the WestIndies onholidays. ..They have notseen their family forx amountof years, so it’s importantand natural for them to go . . .

The fundamentalneed tovisit the ancestralhomeland was expressed asa priorityby thosewho never hadthe opportunityto travel. For instance, Cheryl, who was in her mid-20s, emphasised:

Aslong asIcanremember Ihavealways wanted to visit where myparents lived [Jamaica], ’causemy rootsaren’ t here [England], even though Iwas born here.

Dawn,who was of asimilarage toCheryl, indicatedwhy she hadnot visited her mother’s birthplace, Guyana:

The next holidayI havewill be in Guyana. ..Ithas to be. Ihavelived in Manchesterall my life, but IknowI’ mfromsomewhere else ...It’s very importantfor me togo there ...Personalcircumstances are stopping me from going, but I need to know my background.

Caroline,who was in her earlythirties, explained thatthe initialreason for travelling toJamaica for the firsttime in the late1980s was to familiariseherself with her heritage andlearnmore about her culture. Thus,expressions of uninterest in travellingto the ancestralhomeland were notcommon. Councillor Jones’ s opin- ion was atypical of the preferences of those studied. He stated:

Iknowpeople whosee the WestIndies asparamount importance, but you see Ilive here [MossSide], but notonly that,I havemade the mostof it because Iconsiderthis as myhomeplace ...Many people ofmyage,you knowthe olderpeople, don’t havethe sameopinion asme andI accept that. ..AsIsaidto you,being in politicsyou learnto accept that people with similarbackgrounds have different opinions. ..Ihavenot been backto Jamaicasince arrivinghere manyyears ago . ..Iprobably wouldgo at some point but it’s not an ultimate priority.

Variousmembers ofthe studyoften expressed their desire tovisit the ancestralhomeland in termsof a‘fantasy’or a‘dream’, particularlyas tripswere not frequent events.Interestingly, the adventof the UKNationalLottery in 1994had

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 createda sense ofunfounded optimismin MossSide. Numerousconversations thatwere observedoften included discussionsof howa lotterywindfall would createthe opportunityto travel to the homeland.One Saturdayafternoon at a house partyorganised by one ofJunior’ s relatives,Clem, a group ofelderly men hadjoined togetherto complete alotteryticket. This event createda sense of excitement andintense speculationregarding the possibilityof winning and being able totravelto Jamaica. One discussionfocused onthe qualityof the travel experience andthe possible outcomes:being able toaffordfirst-class plane tick- ets,securing the passageof other friends andfamily members,purchasing land andhouses in Jamaicaas family homesand/ orholidayresidences forother ‘ pri- marygroup members’, andoffering the researcheran invitation that would enable him to understand how ‘Jamaican people party’. Clem declared: 392 Current Issues in Tourism

Mibuy one ofdem big white man’s housesin Clarendon,mi get awhole heap ofde lan’an’ everybody cancuman’ stay wid me, ’ aveabig, big party man...Yesman, ’ avea drink,smoke de ’erb an’ave agood,good time . .. Youcan bring de womenand de picknie [children], one big family reunion . . . Mi show yu [the researcher] what we do! Onanotheroccasion at the launderette when one womanasked her friend if he was planning to go to Jamaica in the near future, the man amusingly replied: Mifinancialreservoir dry out,de droughtna [not] passedby yet,but milive an’hope ...Mi waitfe [for] dosefive numbers ...Mipay noattention to de six,or even debonusnumber, five takemi whe’ mi waan fi [to]go . ..Mi na go Yard if mi ‘ave naw [no] money! Lenny, landlordof the Wellington, while discussingwith other clientele hisneed torevisitJamaica in the nearfuture began tospeculate onhow the lotterywould enable him to travel to his homeland on a regular basis: Mi need towin de lotteryman . ..If anymoney comeby me,every six monthsand mi gwine home. ..but atdismoment in time,mi ‘avetowaitfor a discount cos mi brok’! Travellingto one’ s homelanddoes not have to be conceivedmerely asacorpo- realactivity 11,atangible orphysicalexperience, but canalso be seen asastateof mind,something which canbe imagined anddreamed about in day-to-daylife. Importantly,the desire totravel was often expressed asaneed togo‘home’. This wasparticularly the casefor those who had lived in the Caribbean.Yet this endeavourmay depend onpersonalperceptions ofwhat actually constitutes a ‘homeland’. Forinstance, an elderly volunteer workerfor The MossSide Afro-Caribbean CareGroup had informed the researcherof hisview ontravel- ling ‘home’: Ihavebeen home[Barbados] several times in the past30 years. ..Butgoing homeis asubconsciousthing, it is something inside me ...Ican’t explain whatit is, but there issomething in me tellin’me togo. ..It’s notjust a family thing because alotof WestIndian people havefamily in Canadaand America. ..Ithink itis also the knowledge you have,something you feel secure about.

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Desmond,Junior’ s formerwork colleague, wasasked at the Wellington howhe perceived his visits to Trinidad. He replied: Igohome [Trinidad] tofind peace withmyself. Icallit my naturalhome. It issomewhere I cango to andno one questionswhat you aredoing there, like people do when you are over here. Newspaper articlesin the blackpress, fictitious tales, novels, reggae and Caribbean islandpoetry (Gordon,1979; Riley, 1985;Selvon, 1985)often express compassionatethoughts of Caribbean islandlife andarticulate sympathetic notionsof travelling or returning tothe homeland.Cohen (1997:150) emphasises thatthe range of mediarepresentations targeted at UK Caribbean andblack audiences areindicative of the ‘strengthof a transnationalCaribbean identity’. Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 393

He commentson how the ancestralhomeland is portrayed in the WeeklyGleaner , the popular Caribbean newspaper published in the UK:

When one examinesthe advertisements,the link with‘ ourcountry’ becomesmuch moreconcrete. The pages arestuffed withadvertisements forshipping lines, airlines,freight handlers,money transferservices (‘ Send yourcash in aflash’, saysone), plotsfor sale in Jamaica,architects, removal companies,vacation accommodation and export houses selling tropicalized refrigerators . . . (Cohen, 1997: 150)

The ethnographicmaterial indicates that the propensity totravel is ostensibly influenced by subliminalaspirations: a need toconnect and/ orreconnect to one’s ancestralhomeland and to searchor re-searchfor one’ s culturalroots. The visionor realityof travelexposes a need tobecome accustomedto the various socioculturalnetworks that exist in the homelandsociety (e.g. kinship and communitystructures). It could be the casethat the need to‘ reconnect’with the homelandgenerates the possibilityof challenging, orcomingto terms with, the problemsof living in ametropolitansociety, i.e. sociocultural dislocation and spatialdisplacement. Visions of travel represent waysin which members of diasporic communities

mediate,in alived tension,the experiences ofseparation and entangle- ment,of living here andremembering there/desiring anotherplace. (Clif- ford, 1994: 331)

Popularaccounts of tourismbehaviour emphasisethat the need totravelis largely influenced by dislocationsof asocio-psychologicalnature, i.e. alienated feelings produced by the mechanisticnature of the workingenvironment and the monotonyof homelife (Cohen &Taylor,1992; Krippendorf, 1987;MacCannell, 1976).Cohen andTaylor (1992: 130– 31), for instance, maintain that holiday experiences offer individualsthe opportunityto ‘escape’from the ‘paramountreality’ ofhome life: ‘familiarity’, ‘self-discipline’and ‘ constraint’. Also,MacCannell (1976:10) believes thatbecause individualsare socially alienated within their homeenvironments there will be anunavoidableneed forthem to reconstruct their lifestyles througha ‘deeper involvementwith another society and culture’ . However,the desire orneed toreconstructelements ofa displacedheritage withina place ofcultural and historical significance isarguably one ofthe

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 primaryreasons for choosing to visitthe ancestralhomeland. Yet if socialalien- ationis to be consideredas acontributoryfactor of the need formembers ofthe Caribbean communityto travel away from their everyday environments,it wouldbe necessaryto considerother possible determinants,such as the social exclusionof racialisedminorities in metropolitansocieties (Stephenson & Hughes, 1995).Although thispaper doesnot address this issue, it is argued that popular perspectives concerning tourismmotivation and behaviour do not significantlyhelp in identifying the unique reasonsas towhy ethnic minority groupsneed totravel. For the moment,however, it is argued thatthe desire to travelto the ancestralhomeland is by nomeans based on an unplanned orimpul- sivequest, but rathera questbound tokinship ties,cultural codes of behaviour and ethnic histories. 394 Current Issues in Tourism

Anothercommon perspective concerning tourismbehaviour asserts that people’s motivationsto participatein tourismfundamentally centre oncollective questsfor spiritual, sacred and authentic experiences (Graburn,1983, 1989; MacCannell,1976). Graburn indicates how the tourismexperiences manifest sacred characteristics: Becausethe touristicjourney lies in the nonordinarysphere ofexistence, the goalis symbolically sacred and morally on a higher plane thanthe regards of the ordinary workaday world. (1989: 28) Nevertheless,this perspective arguablycontains monocultural suppositions basedon parochialways of perceiving andexplaining tourismbehaviour. This criticismwould also apply tothe conceptualisationof particulartypes oftourist behaviour.For instance, Cohen’ s (1979,1988) categories, the ‘experimental tourist’who searches for a spiritual/authenticexperience andthe ‘existentialtourist’ whoseeks toattaina new spiritual/religious centre asaresultof an enlightened experience, whilstinformative in explaining specific touristendeavours, are arguablydeveloped fromrelativistic interpretations of motivationalbehaviour. AsHandler(1990) emphasises,the belief thatthere isa general need toengage in aspiritualquest outside of the familiarenvironment is founded onan ethnocentricinterpretation of whatis deemed ‘sacred’and what constitutes ‘ reli- gion’. Bruner (1991)also questions the use ofconceptssuch as ‘ authenticity’to explain the motivationalobjectives andexperiences oftourists, maintaining that they havea tendency toconveythe statusof Westernacademic constructs. It is suggested, therefore, thatcategorisations of tourismbehaviour arefar removed fromthe perceptions andinterpretations of thoseindividuals who are actually being conceptualised. Despite the aboveconcerns, various members of the studygroup often described their aspirationsand experiences ofvisiting their ancestralhomeland throughnarratives replete withreligious-type metaphorsand expressions of spiritualvalue. Errol, a key informantin hisearly 40s, described hisfirst experience in Jamaica in the late 1980s: Although there were wasbig timedifferences between whatI’ mused to here andwhat was there, it’s stilla spiritualthing goin’to Jamaica.You’ re hyped up allthe time,even monthsbefore you go. ..So when you get there you see thingsyou haveheard but notseen, oryou havefeelings thatyou

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 haven’t experienced ...Ihadnever seen mybrother,my mum’s son,and thingslike that. ..So even though itwas four yearsago now since Iwent, it’s an experience I won’t forget . . . I would go tomorrow if I could. PK,aregular client atthe Wellington, impulsively described hisexperience of travellingto Jamaicain the mid-1980s,his first and only visitsince arriving in Britainin the mid-1950s.In twoseparate but interrelatedconversations, PK expressed: (1) Assoon mi gotdown dere in Portlandmi gotout de caran’ me dida Pope, gotdown an’ kissed de ground,yes mihug upde ground ...Mi enjoy it,seeing oldfriends andgrand kiddies minever knowmi had.Mi hada whole heap ofkids mi never seen. Mi wassexed up when miwasyoung, as Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 395

young as you, mi tellin’ yuh . . . (2) De only difficulty in Yardwas de heat,mi sweatfuckries man,like a pagan,mi got me weakas rat poison . ..De family ting keep migoin’, an’ dose rum houses dem, ahh mi tellin’ yuh, it was like being in heaven . . .

During the summermonths Junior andthe researcherwould occasionally visit‘ Speakers’Corner’ , aplace where aJamaicanman solddrinks and ices from avanin the frontgarden ofhis house. Here, first-and second-generation Jamai- canswould sit for many hours discussing a range of topicsconcerning their homeland.On one occasionan elderly mandiscussed the degree towhich Jamaica played an important role in his everyday life:

Jamaicais a goddessto me,mi live for,mi worship,mi dreamof fromde mornin’time to wen migo to bed ...Itis de lastting datgoes tru myhead before mihit dat pillow, even aftermi woman. ..Itis not a sinto seh milove Jamaica more dan anyting, mi look forward to dose visits, mi really do.

Several ofthe key informantsfurther conveyed their perceptions ofthe ancestralhomeland using similarterms of expression:Cheryl emphasisedthat Jamaicawas a ‘very specialplace’ to her andthat the chanceto visitthe island wouldfulfil a‘life long dream’; Joyce, whohad visited Grenada on justone occasion,described the islandas the ‘ultimatedestination’ ; Elaine perceived her two visitsto Barbados as ‘spiritualjourneys’ ; andMarvin, an elderly informantwho emigratedfrom St Vincent in the late1960s, explained thathe preferred tovisit hishomeland ‘ religiously every five years’around the timeof hisbirthday. He further maintained,‘ Ilike tocelebrate life in de place where miwas born, in de land of de Blest Saint, de Island of Paradise’. The abovepercepts indicatethat there isan element of‘sacredness’attached to the desire tovisitthe homeland,where perceptions oftravel signify something ‘spiritual’, ‘heavenly’and/ or‘paradisiacal’. These perceptions generally highlight howdestinations of socialand cultural significance personify specialnessof place,12 andalso how travel aspirations embody emotionaland deep-seated commitments.Such meaningful questsand individual perceptions ofthe homeland manifest traits of a self-governing nature. Allcock(1988) believes thatin identifying the subjective meaningsof tourism behaviourit is necessary to consider privatised forms of travel (e.g. family- centred holidays).He presentsa critique ofthe view thattourism aspirations and

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 experiences relateto the public venerationof shared values, as suggested by thoseinsights concerning the socialsignificance of visitingtourist attractions (MacCannell,1976) and museums (Horne, 1984). Given thatthese enquiries generally view tourismas an embodiment ofritualistic, formal and collective experiences, they assumethat tourism represents ‘aspecies ofcivilreligion, cele- bratinginstitutionalised public values’(Allcock, 1988: 44). This perspective, whichstresses that public valuesare influenced by the commonand dominant ideologiesof society(MacCannell, 1976; Horne, 1984 13), doesnot seriously acknowledge howtourism experiences canbe individualisticallyinterpreted througha range of personalisedmeanings (Allcock, 1988). Allcock (1988: 44) indicatesthat the lackof attentionto these componentsstems from the factthat tourismexperiences havenot been perceived asforms of ‘ implicitreligion’ 396 Current Issues in Tourism

(Allcock,1988: 44). Hence, ‘implicitreligion’ refers to‘ thoseaspects of experience which one mightwish to callreligious, but whichfall outsideof the particular institutionalforms which have become dominantin anygiven society’(Allcock, 1988: 40). The ethnographicmaterial indicates how expressions regarding the desire to travelare instinctive and informal, and how perceptions ofthe ancestralhome- landare subjectively interpreted throughpersonalised ideologies. As the paper laterdetails, experiences andencounters in the ancestralhomelands can alsobe viewed ashavinga non-institutionalisedand lessunified character,illustrated in caseswhere UKCaribbean visitorsseek todissociatethemselves from the tourist public and from tourist areas. Itwould be mistakento assertthat ethnic reunion doesnot involve collective dimensionsand socially interactive attributes. Paulette, in her late30s, revealed how travel can encompass mandatory elements: Ifeel committedto the causeof going home(Jamaica) because myparents arethere andthey areold. I amthinking why shouldI spend money tohave fun when Icouldbe spending timewith them . ..My motherstill relies on mesomuch,it breaks my heart. ..Iwouldconsider visiting my brotherin America but it’s more of a priority to visit Jamaica. Otherkey informantsacknowledged similarreasons for travelling to the ancestral homeland. Elaine expressed: Although my mum,my dadand my stepmumdon’ t live in Barbados,I havea granthere andI need tokeep in touchand try to gowhen Ican. .. Yes,to see howshe is. ..She isavery oldlady and is not that well these days. ..Iwasvery closeto her when Ilived there, soIgoand stay with her when Ican. ..Yousee, Marcus,she wasvery goodto mewhen Iwasyoung, never madeany judgements ofme. I couldn’t doanything wrongin her eyes. Individualscan sometimes feel obliged orcompelled tovisit the homeland, whether forreasons of attendingto family responsibilitiesor engaging in criti- callyimportant events. Junior, forinstance, travelled to Jamaicasix times and on twoof those occasions attended a funeral andon anotherattended a wedding. Also,PK travelledto Jamaicaafter one ofhisparents had died andValerie travelled toJamaica to coincidewith her niece’s christening.Consequently, travelto

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 the ancestralhomeland can extend toinclude moreinstitutionalised elements of travel,where the purpose oftravelrelates to the celebrationof moreformal and conventionalevents. It is these dimensionswhich celebrate the socialand cultural values of diasporic communities. Consequently, decisionsto travelare not always based on freedom ofchoice. Individualsmay welcome the opportunityto travelto the ancestralhomeland but the purpose oftheir trip,the timingof the event, the durationof their visitand particularactivities in whichthey participateare partly influenced by collective responsibilitiesand obligations. Travel aspirations and experiences maycertainly containa self-oriented component,encouraging individualsto develop adeeper awarenessof their ancestralhomeland and inspiring themto proudly recount their experiences toothers (as this paper laterillustrates). Yet individualised Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 397

objectives,such as those characterised by questsfor self-actualisation, personal gainor socialstatus (Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1977; Pearce &Caltabiano,1983), are only one setof possible motivesfor travelling to the homeland.Consequently, primarymotivations relate to the need tofulfil family obligationsand to satisfy cultural expectations. Itmay also be argued thatethnic reunion encouragesmembers ofthe Carib- bean diasporato break asymboliclink withtheir travelhistories. These histories comprisetravel experiences andevents which were exploitativein nature,char- acterisedby ‘enslavement’, ‘enforced migration’, ‘immigration’and ‘ relocation’ (Clifford, 1992,1997; Curtis& Pajaczkowska,1994; Hooks, 1992: 173).The ability totravel for pleasure orpersonalgain was arguably defined by the ethnic and materialstatus of individualsand societies. This was illustrated by the educa- tionaland scientific explorations of the European gentry (Pimlott,1947, Turner & Ash,1975) and the political,religious andcultural ventures ofcolonial bureau- crats,missionaries and anthropologists 14 (Ellen, 1984;Pratt, 1992; Stauder,1980). While coercivetravel experiences associatedwith slavery and migration represent asocialantithesis to the contemporarymovement of people forthe ‘intensificationof sensoryexperience[s]’ (Curtis & Pajaczkowska,1994: 214), it wouldbe mistakento assumethat these travelhistories have had no bearing on the natureof contemporaryforms of travel.Migration, for instance, led tothe socioculturaldisplacement of the UKCaribbean communityfrom its point of originand consequently contributedto the currentand prevailing need torecon- nectwith the ancestraldestination. Yet unlike migration,which involves a linear orunidirectional movement for the purpose ofeconomic subsistence, ethnic reunion entailsa transversal-typemovement for the intentionof satisfying culturalneeds, personaldesires and social obligations. It is these aspectswhich symboliseanother dimension of the diasporicexperience, indicatinghow travel embodies arange ofnew meaningsand interpretations relating to the importanceof family life, culturalheritage andidentity. In orderto contextualisethe significance ofsuchmeanings and attributes, it is now necessary to identify and examine particularsocial networks that encourage individualsto participatein the ‘homeland experience’.

The sociocultural importance of matriarchal relationships The prominentrole of Caribbean women(mothers and grandmothers) in

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 maintainingthe traditionalresponsibilities associated with childcare practices andthe educationalwelfare ofchildren iswell documentedin studiesof UK Caribbean families(Driver, 1982;Foner, 1976). It is noted that since migration, womenhave adopted a new rolein maintainingfamily tiesand nurturing kinship connectionswith relatives in the Caribbean (Foner, 1976).One obvious reasonfor the primaryinvolvement of mothers in the welfare ofthe family relatesto the significantlyhigh ratesof female-headed families.It is estimated, forexample, thatUK Caribbean familiesare three timesmore likely tobe matrifocalthan their white counterparts(Skellington, 1992).It is argued thatthe evolutionof female-centred familieswithin the Caribbean communityrelates in someway tothe historyof traveland mobility. Hence, the legacy ofslavery and post-warmale migration contributed to the socialand economic marginalisation 398 Current Issues in Tourism

ofmaleswithin the family household,a processwhich elevated mothersas the overseers of family affairs (Barrow, 1982; Driver, 1982). Although contributingto the discussionconcerning the activerole of females in retainingfamily connectionswith friends andrelatives, the followinganec- dotalmaterial directs further attentionto howmatriarchal kin canconstructively instilupon family members adesire totravel to the ancestralhomeland. For instance, Joyce, who was in her mid-20s, claimed: Iwentto Grenada because ofthe wayI wasbrought up ...It’s my mum’s country,Jamaica is my father’s country. ..My fatherdidn’ t saymuch about it. ..Ithink life wasdifficult forhim ...So thatleft mymotherto talkto us kidsabout Grenada. She toldus all about the carnival,the foodthey grow, like nutmeg, andthe politicsof the island,’ causeit’ s avery politicalisland, isn’t it?. ..Ithink aboutJamaica ’ causeI suppose I’mhalf Jamaican,but I don’t always feel it . . . Delphene, bornin the UKinthe late1960s, explained why she identified more withher mother’s country,Guyana, rather than her father’s country,Barbados: When Iwasyounger Iremember when mygrandmothercame over to visit us.I remember alotabout the Guyanese people ...whatthey ateand the waythey spoke andthe thingslike that. ..My mumwas there allthe time, her culture andcountry was with us all the time. ..mymum’s childhood wasthe sortof childhoodI wouldhave liked tohavehad. But when occa- sionallywe wentto see mydadhe never talkedabout his life in Barbados, probably because Ididn’t spend much timewith him ...Butit’ s alsoto do withthe factthat more of my mum’s family isover here, they areall very close.My daddoes not have much family here ...Butyou see my mum brought us up, my dad didn’t. Perceptions ofthe ancestraldestination are seemingly influenced by the social processof learning aboutone’ s culture andheritage. The processof creating an ideaand/ ora sense ofbelonging toa particulardestination appears to occur throughchildhood experiences andparental instruction. Errol’ s narrativeillus- trates this point: Igrew up knowing alotabout Jamaica. I remember when Iwasyounger my mumhad maps all over the place andbookson Jamaica,especially cooking

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 books. ..She talkedabout the place allthe time,the family,the farmlife and the marketsshe used togoto. So when Ihadthe opportunityto go . ..alotof things began to come together when I was there. Alocaltaxi driver impulsively discussedhis desire tovisitJamaica during the researcher’s journey homefrom the Wellington one Sunday afternoon.His narrativereveals how parental instruction had also influenced alifelong questto travel to his ancestral island: mywomanis pregnant. It’ s comeat the wrongtime . ..Iwasplanning togo Jamaica,never been, soI’ve justcancelled it. ..Ialwayskeep in touchwith mymum’s family,my dad’s never around,but she alwaysgot us kids to write regularly . . . I know one day I get down there, big time! Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 399

Several ofthe informantshad been raisedby their grandparents(not an uncommonpractice in Caribbean families) andsuggested thattheir identificationwith the ancestralhomeland was in someway influenced by their upbringing. As Dawn explained: Idon’t keep in touchwith my father’s side ...fromTrinidad.I havestronger connectionswith Guyana because Iwasbrought up withmy grandmother. ..Isuppose there isa difference between meandsomeone who has parentsborn in England,or those who have parents who left the West Indies when they were kids,you knowthose who I callmore modern women. ..Ifeel thatI knowa lotabout the countrythrough her ...the land, the people, the culture and the music, an’ all that. Some ofDawn’s concernswere conveyed toCheryl, whohad also lived withher grandparents for most of her formative years. Cheryl’s response was: Icansee whatshe ison about.My grandparentsdidn’ t talkmuch about Jamaica,but you knew itwas there intheir hearts. ..When Ilived with them,there wassome kind ofculture there ...howthey decoratedthe house,the coloursand all the pictureson the walland the oldfurniture ... They used togive you choresto do and say that is what they hadto do in Jamaica . . . So yes, I have Jamaica in me too and that’s why I need to go. Anotherinformant, Lloyd, who was in hislate 30s and had lived mostof his childhood life with his grandmother, expressed: Ihadthis Jamaica thing in me,right, ever since Igrew up withmi gran.She used tochatchat ‘ boutSt Ann [Jamaica]all the time,yes allthe time. ..She mademe feel homesick,and I wasn’t bornthere! But being in her house all the time, you just pick up on it, right . . . Itcould be argued thatmatriarchal instruction has a significantrole to play in the evolutionand advancement of destination identities and desires. These desires areinfluenced by the extentto which family andisland knowledge issocially transmittedfrom one generationto another with the outcomeof producing an affinity oran identity witha given islandof ethnic significance.They arenot, therefore,directly provoked within the immediatepre-trip period but areactually assembledthrough a long-termprocess of enculturation. This informal and educa- tionalprocess, which is evident in childhoodexperiences andcontinues into adult

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 life, involvesthe socialreproduction of culturallycoded signs and symbols of the ancestralisland (e.g. food,carnival, family activitiesand island politics).

Peer group networks and the process of self and collective identification Imagesof the homelandcan alsobe contextualisedand reproduced withinthe wider communitythrough the establishmentof peer group networks.The memoriesof thosewho had lived in the Caribbean,and the feelings, fantasies andvisions of those who had been raisedin the UK,were often interactively conveyed throughpassionate debates and storytelling narratives, usually vocalised between friends andcommunity members. Such dialogue,observed in a varietyof public placesin MossSide, significantlycentred onthemesand issues 400 Current Issues in Tourism

relatingto the ancestralhomeland. In Maurice’s barbershop,for instance, a half-hour argumentbetween twoelderly Jamaicanclients focused on whether the roadfrom Mandeville toKingstonwas orwasnotthe ‘bestroad back-a-Yard’ . In the Wellington, Junior hadan ongoing dispute withhis friend Edconcerning the extent towhich ‘ big shipscum by AlligatorPond’ (south coast of Jamaica). Anothersimilar argument was evoked in the Normington,a Jamaicanpublic house in Derby (English Midlands)that was visited during aweekend break arrangedby Junior’s YouthCentre. Thisdebate wasconcerned withwhich of the beaches aroundWestmoreland (west coast of Jamaica)was the superiorin terms of‘attractiveness’and ‘ cleanliness’, andin termsof being ‘untouched by tourists’. These intra-islanddiscussions 15 discloseways in which particularplace imagescan be dramatisedand personified. They alsoexemplify the socialand culturalsignificance ofthe ancestraldestination to the livesof thoseconcerned. Socialrelationships founded onethnic tiescan thus extend the socialisation processresponsible for‘ islandidentification’ . Accordingly,social interactive factorsare considered to be responsible forthe productionand reproduction of culturalinformation concerning the islanddestination. Images which are created,modified andcommunicated through family andpeer group narratives, pastexperiences andvisible representationsof the homeland,i.e. the ‘organic images’, play amorecentral role in creatingand enhancing the desire totravel to the homelandthan those produced andpromoted by the tourismindustry itself, i.e.the ‘induced images’(Gartner, 1993: 196; Gunn, 1972). Consequently, home- landimages and representations are not essentially created or induced by the tourismindustry’ s ‘imageformation agents’ (Gartner, 1993: 199) but aresocially constructed through group interaction, negotiation and intervention. ’Anticipation’and ‘ daydreaming’are integral components of the (diasporic) travelexperience in thatthey stimulateindividuals to ‘calmlygo travelling with- outleaving the home’(Rojek, 1993:201). These post-touristtype traitshelp to manufacturevivid images of the ancestralisland within the contextof the home andcommunity environment. Yet there aremore tangible elements tothe diasporicexperience, suchas the productionand consumption of ethnic products(e.g. Caribbean food,literature and music). These ethnic resourcesare increasingly availablein cosmopolitansocieties and have the possibilityof enabling individualsto experience the culturaland social qualities of their island.Although thispaper doesnot address ways in whichdiasporic forms of

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 consumptionsignify the homeland,the underlying pointis that destination imagesare particularistic in bothcharacter and form, distinguished mainlyby their ethnic andsocial attributes. Consequently, traveland homeland percep- tionsare stimulated by informalelements ofcommunication,involving socially interactiveknowledge andboth individually andcollectively negotiated forms of information. The processof acquiringdetailed social knowledge ofthe ancestraldestina- tionmay also assist in the reinforcement ormediationof an individual’s identificationwith that destination. Moreover, ‘ insider knowledge’can arguably facilitatethe processof islandidentification and at the sametime encourage the processof self-identification.One particularconversation, based on a heated (intra-island)dispute occurringduring alate‘ lockin’ at the Wellington, directly Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 401

illustrateshow travel and knowledge areclosely interconnected with aspects of personalidentity. The researcher,seated in the cornerof the roompretending to fill inacrosswordon alocalnewspaper, recordedan in-depth debate involving Junior andClive (Junior’s regular drinking partner).Clive provokedthe following argument by claiming: Yuh buy ahouse ’pon dere in Yard,fi thirtythousan’ . ..datis English pound not de dollar. Junior immediately replied:

Noman, less dan dat, mi tellin’you, even de housesin dem touristplaces less dan dat. Clive strongly responded:

Yuh talkin’fuckry man!De lasttime mi passdown dere misee itwid mi owneye ...Youtellin’me, mi blind ...itneva cheap, dey ‘aveto pay de cost of de material, labour an’ de lan’. Dey ‘ave to import plenty of tings. Junior retaliated:

Yu mus’ be mad! Mi know different dan dat . . .

Clive began to personalise the dispute, questioning Junior:

Yutellin’me datyu knowJamaica better danme? Yuknowit more dan me?

Junior proudly declared: Yes man, mi do . . .

Clive attempted to test Junior’s knowledge of Jamaica: Name a town in every parish? Come on man tell me ’bout back-a-Yard? Junior shouted: Blaadklaat man! Don’ give mifuckry! Dattoo easy a question,ask me a difficult one dan dat! Clive quietly inquired: Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Yu know Gibraltar? Junior posed a similar question: Do yu know Bamboo Grove? Anyone can say dese tings man. His friend questioned Junior persistently: Cum,answer mi questionJunior, whe’Gibraltar? . ..Mi knowdese tings, mi been Yard plenty times, plenty times more dan yuh! Atthis point Junior jumped fromhis chair and waved a finger profusely atClive, yelling: 402 Current Issues in Tourism

Shut y’rass! Yu don’know yuh head froma bull foot!Mi travelin alldem parish,time and time over . ..Mibeen Yardsix times, so miknowall dese tings. An’ yu, yu know blaad klaat! Thisdebate, continuing intothe earlyhours of the morningand provoking the opinionsof others,indicates how memories, knowledge ofparticular places and travelexperiences help toverify anindividual’s identificationwith the ancestral homeland.It also suggests that the abilityto acquire detailed knowledge and effectively impartthat knowledge onto‘ significantothers’ depends upon the quality and quantity of accumulated information and travel experiences. Islandidentification was affirmed orreaffirmed throughother conflict-based conversations,such as those which resulted from‘ inter-islanddialogue’ . Such disputesusually occurredin situationswhere individualsfrom different Carib- bean islandsinteracted with one another.Numerous inter-island disputes were often notedin the Wellington. Although thispublic house waspredominantly visitedby first-and second-generation Jamaicans, the presence ofa minorityof Barbadianclients would often arouserather amusing ‘ islandsquabbles’ . These (male-centred) disputeswould focus on arguments such as which of the two islands,Jamaica or Barbados, ‘ bred de bestcricketers’ , ‘produced destrongest rum’ and ‘contained de most sexiest gals’. Junior, celebrating his40th birthday party at hishome with his family and friends, began tochastisehis ‘ Bajanfriend’ , Vincent, fordescribing Barbadosas the ‘Capital of the West Indies’. Junior told Vincent: Mi been toBajan country twice, you havebeen one time,dat is not my homeland,so whatdo you know?Capital of de WestIndies, mibatty’ ole!

Vincent retaliated: Mi born dere. Yu not born in Jamaica, you is an English man.

Junior rebuked Vincent’s statement: Youleft manyyears ago, dat don’ count. You haveonly been backone time! Vincent responded: Yes tru’, but mi went and mi can went again if mi waan to.

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Junior, usually having the final say in debates of this kind, declared: Youis fram small island where dey loveup de white man,so what de fuckries do you know? Inter-islanddisputes of thiskind areconcerned withpeople’ s territorialalle- giancesand social attachments to the ancestraldestination, and thus indicate further waysin which ethnic andisland identities are defined, counter-defined andindividually andcollectively mediated. They contributeto anunderstand- ing ofhow identities are ‘ externalizedin socialinteraction and internalized in personalself-identification’ (Jenkins, 1997:14). Yet because these debatesmutu- allyinvolve members ofthe Caribbean diasporaand are articulated within a sharedsocial space and cultural context, they alsodemonstrate how ethnic and Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 403

islandidentities are symbolically enclosed within a commonboundary that is marked by a wider Caribbean/West Indian identification. The emotionalcontent of intra-and inter-island conversations illustrates the profound need forindividuals to be closelyassociated with the ancestralhomeland,especially ashomelandconnections and experiences manifestsignificant elements ofsocial pride andself-esteem. However,an individual’ s abilityto participatein the homelandexperience shouldnot necessarily be viewed asa symbolof socialdistinction, nor as asign ofsuperiority over others, but should be perceived in termsof personalachievement andself-attainment. Errol’ s narrative clarifies this point: When Iwentback home [to Moss Side], people atthe factorykept tellin’me howlucky Iwas[visiting Jamaica].I justtell themthat they aretoo ‘ licky, licky’. ..you knowcovetous, but Iwasjoking really.I ampleased tosee anyone travellingto the place where their rootsare, you knowwhat I mean?..We shouldall get togoif wewantto ...itmeans a lotto us. If you get togoyou areproud. Some like torub itin abit andpiss you off withit by tellin’y’ that they’ ve been backhome and you haven’t, but it’s fun and joke ...Some maymean it, but it’s notto show off like, it’s tosay thatyou should go to see where you come from . . . Furthermore,intra- and inter-island conversations manifest the rightto contest destinationknowledge andillustrate the privilege ofhavingcommon access to island-basedinformation, i.e. ‘ insider knowledge’. These rightsand privileges areexclusive tothe descendantsof island communities, and arekey components in the maintenanceof ethnic boundariesbetween Caribbean andnon-Caribbean people. Thus,‘ insider knowledge’can enable members ofanethnic (minority) group tomaintaintheir socialdistance from others. This was illustrated by the researcher’s ownposition within the field. Asaconsequence oflimitedcultural capacityand social ability to actively participate in inter/intra-islanddiscussions,the researchercould not fully adopta complete participantobservational role during the study. There were othertypes ofknowledge-based conversationswhich exemplified people’s rightto perform asense of‘insidership’, thosewhich focused on the politicaland social climate of the ancestraldestination. For instance, on one evening spent in aMossSide shebeen withJunior andseveral other friends, a conversationdrew attention to issues concerning the culturaland material

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 ownershipof Jamaica, highlighting howit was becoming ‘Americanised’and how‘ Germanswere buying up deplace’. Onanotheroccasion in the WestIndian SocialClub withErrol’ s father,Ralston, and several of Ralston’ s friends, one discussiondirected attention to the factthat the hoteldevelopments built on Jamaica’s northcoast were preventing Jamaicansfrom accessing their ownland. The documentary, The Yardies (CarltonTelevision, 21 February 1995), 16 shown on UKtelevisionearlier thatweek, provokeda further discussionrelating to the negative mediarepresentations of Jamaica.This programme presented arange ofimages portraying the effects of drug dealing in Kingston’s Trench Town: gang warfare,acid attacks and funerals. The group, incensed bythe wayin which the programmedramatised events, generally implied thatsuch images manufac- tured stereotypesof their homeland.Hence, Jamaicawas portrayed as a‘danger- 404 Current Issues in Tourism

ousplace’ , ‘full ofvillains’ and ‘ full gangstermen’ . These imageswere apparently far removed from their own perceptions of Jamaica. These discussionsinterestin gly illustratethe extent towhich individuals arepolitically concerned about their homeland.They alsoembody acritical awarenesswhich transcends mainstream perceptions andrepresentations. Consequently, politicallybased narratives can be seen asnecessary forms of ‘counterrepresentation’(Hollinshead, 1998: 70), particularly as they expose a concertedattempt by individualsto nullify normativerepresentations through ‘correctively reprojecting critically important images’ (1998: 70). Caribbean migrationto UK metropolitansocieties has gradually created intersubjective discourseswhich signify the relevance ofthe ancestralhomeland in people’s lives.These discoursesare based on the contentand expression of communitynarratives, debates and political discussions, and importantly demonstratehow group memberships aremediated and how island identities areenunciated. Appropriately, Clifford emphasisesthe importanceof collective discourses as signifiers of group attachment: Diasporistdiscourses reflect the sense ofbeing partof an ongoing transna- tionalnetwork that includes the homeland,not as something simply left behind, but asaplace ofattachmentin acontrapuntalmodernity. (1994: 311). In orderto develop adeeper understandingof howmembers of aUK Carribeancommunity perceive andcommunicate their ownethnic andself- identities,it is now appropriate to consider people’ s perceptions concerning personalexperiences andencounters within the homeland.This insight could contributeto afurther realisationof howethnic boundariesare negotiatedand/ or renegotiated by group members.

The Ancestral Homeland: Experiences and Encounters

Being a non-tourist Given thatpeople’ s desiresand aspirations to travel did not consistently typify conventionalforms of tourism motivation, it was important to discuss whether individualsactually perceived themselvesto be culturallydistinct from othertourists. One mechanismwas to formulate an inquiry concerned withhow members ofthe studygroup viewed their rolesand statuses during particular Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 visits. Key informantsgenerally drewattention to how their activitiesand encoun- terslimited their abilityto perceive themselvesas tourists, despite someinfor- mantsacknowledging sometentative similarities between the natureof their activitiesand the activitiesof tourists.This point was clearin Valerie’s narrative describing her holiday activities in Jamaica: Ididgo to some of the touristplaces and do some things tourists do ...I wentto the beaches atMontegoBay, Dunn’ s RiverFalls and the BobMarley Mausoleum.But I stillfelt Iwascoming to a place where Iwasalready knownand I knew abit about. ..Iwentto church,a school,things like that. ..Wewouldgo inabig family withneighbours onapicnic. Wewould Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 405

takeloads of foodand music to the beach,they arenotlike the beach parties the tourists have.

Joyce, forinstance, openly explained why she didnot consider herself asatourist during her visit to Grenada:

Ihavebeen allover Grenada, through the mountainsand to bothsides of the island,but Ididn’t see myself asatourist. ..ButI wasalwaysgoing back tomy aunty’s home,not the hotels. ..We wouldgo to the localbeaches, they were abit moreisolated and rugged, you wouldn’t usually see awhite personthere ...andif wecouldn’t get tapwater coming through the pipes, we wouldgo down to the localriver and we wouldhave our own area to washour clothes and stones to bleach the sheetsand things in the sun.I got intothe spiritof things . ..Yes,it was a sortof holiday,but itis also a family routine.I helped alotaround the house andthings like that,things tourists don’t doanddon’ t wantto do. ..I’mnotknockin’ what they do,but Iimag- ine their experiences are different.

In the PrestatynCricket Pavilion (North Wales), visited during anannual crickettournament organised by Lenny ofthe Wellington, Junior hadinformed Vincent ofthe researcher’s recent visitto Barbados. Vincent, leaving Junior standingat the bar,rushed overto the crowdedtable where the researcherwas sitting and amusingly shouted:

When you were in mycountryyou wouldhave been toChrist Church, you wouldgo framtown to town.You notbeen tovillagesin St Peter where Iam from[a northern parish], or downto the canefields ...White people don’t goto those places like dat,we don’allow it. We like tocontain you, you are too much trouble!

Thisclaim implies thattourists are defined by their racialbackground and physi- caldistance from local areas. Members ofthe studygroup thusdid not generally imagine themselvesas tourists.Their knowledge ofthe islandand involvement in the dailyactivities of others (relatives and friends) were key factorscontribut- ing tolackof identificationwith tourists. Subsequently, itappears that UK Carib- bean visitorscan approach and experience the ‘backregions’ of everyday life; an opportunitythat is not always presented totourists (MacCannell, 1976: 92).

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Elaine’s descriptionof her secondvisit to Barbados, since emigratingfrom the island in the mid-1970s, clearly illustrates this point:

Ihavenever lookedat visiting families as being atouristything ...Onmy lastvisit I wentto thisbig touristplace, Sam Lord’ s Castle. ..nearwhere my family livesdown in Apple Hall,where Igrew up[St Philip, asouth-eastern parish].Well, we wentto the beach there andall the touristswent through the frontentrance. I think they hadto pay toget downon the beach ...we didn’t, wewentin the backway, they wouldn’t havea clue ...So yes,it’ s these thingsthat make you different. Youjust do thingsdifferent, you join in withthe family activitiesand chores and that . ..sortin’the house out, looking after the kids, plattin’ their hair . . . 406 Current Issues in Tourism

Thisnarrative also indicates that particular experiences emulate behaviour patternsapparent in the structuredenvironment of everyday life. AsErrol expressed: When Iwasthere [Jamaica]. ..Ihelped aroundthe house andI helped my brotherfix andspray his car, things like this. ..Yes,things I woulddo here, you know in Moss Side. I can’t see tourists doing those sort of things. Carolinediscussed how her dutiesand tasks determined the natureof her stayin Jamaica: There isnot much difference towhatyou dohere. When Iwasthere Iwent shopping forthe weekly mealsand that, and I tookthe kidsto their friends ...ButI suppose you dosome things different ...Youknow, like going totown to get gasbottles to work the ovenand like nothaving all the modconsin the kitchen, havingto walkeverywhere andthat. But my holi- daywas not a complete rest,say like if you goand stay in ahotelcomplex and get everything done for you. Given thatsome of the informantsacknowledged thatthey were significantly involvedin domesticduties and responsibilities, it could be claimedthat UK Caribbean visitorsdo notalways adopt new statusesand roles associated with liberated experiences andchanged circumstances.Hence, the tendency to continue withdaily duties and family responsibilitiesduring the visitsuggests thatpeople’ s experiences donot fully embody thosepatterns of behaviour commonlyascribed to tourists: ‘ rolereversals’ , ‘culturalinversions’ and ‘anti-structural behaviour’ (Gottlieb, 1982; Graburn, 1983, 1989; Jafari, 1987). One coincidentaltheme toemerge fromdescriptions of personalencounters in the Caribbean wasthe wayin whichindividuals can be prejudged and pre-defined by tourists.Errol, for instance, revealed howhe wasmistaken for a ‘beach peddler’: When Iwentto some of the touristareas some tourists would think I’m fromthe localarea. I will tell you this,when Iwascarryinga coolbox on the beach atNegril [Westmoreland,West Jamaica], for a family mealand that, sometourists there ...white people, movedaway when Iwaswalking towardsthem. I think they thoughtI wastrying tomake a littlemoney sellin’ drink . . .

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Joyce spoke ofan occasion when she andseveral children, carryinglarge buckets ofclothesthey hadjust washed in the localriver, were photographedby two ‘white tourists’from a nearby car.This event promptedJoyce toreassess her identity: When they did this. ..Iwasseen asbeing Grenadianfull stop,and that mademe feel good.When you think aboutit, I wasonly there forthree weeks ...When Ithoughtabout it later, especially throughlistening to viewsfrom relatives, I thoughtabout how they mustfeel ...Youknow, how they can be patronised when they come up against tourists. Longmore’s (1989)book, Tap-Tapsto Trinidad:A Journey Throughthe Caribbean , presentsan interesting accountof her travelexperiences during her visitsto Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 407

different islands.Writing of her encountersin Dominica,Martinique andSt Lucia,she criticallydescribes how tourists often behaved in acontemptuous manner, ‘gazing’ at her with ‘mistrustful eyes’ (1989: 133). She continues: Blackpeople were here toprovide adashof localcolour, and serve them rumpunches, notsit among them as equals.It was all wrong. (Longmore, 1989: 133–4) Given thatsome of the abovenarratives indicate that tourists have the potential todenigrate bothlocals and ‘ blackvisitors’ alike, it could be assertedthat the ‘white touristgaze’ has a limited capacityto distinguish ‘ blackvisitors’ from ‘blacklocals’ . Moreover,as aconsequence oftourists’negative reactions,it possible forthese visitorsto perceive themselvesas locals or members ofthe host community,albeit fora limited period.This issue was clear in Valerie’s account of her encounters within tourist areas: When Iwasthere, if you wentto someof the touristplaces, now and again someAmericans and British people wouldcome and ask you fordirections. I thought it was funny, it doesn’t seem to happen a lot in England . . . During acoachtrip to afuneral in Leeds, arrangedby Lenny whowas a rela- tiveof the deceased,one mandescribed tohis friend hisrecent travelexperiences in MontegoBay (St James,North-west Jamaica). His comments were concerned withhow tourists reacted towards him during hisstay in alargehotel complex. The researcherwas seated behind the twomen andrecorded some of his comments: They kept askingme allabout Jamaica, askin’ me why Iwasn’t stayingwith family ...White people alwaysmessin’ about in blackpeople’ s business ... Butit makesme feel good,’ causethey kept askingme aboutlocal areas, where togoand not to go. ..Ididn’t feel thatmi justcome from the same country as them. Onone level itwould seem thatUK Caribbean visitorsnaturally differentiate themselvesfrom tourists on the basisof phenotypical characteristics,illustrated by commonreference tocolour in describing contrastingroles and statuses. However,visitors’ perceptions andcategorisations are founded onideologies of difference. These differences arenotnecessarily determined by physicalcharac- teristicsbut by differing motivations,priorities, behaviour patterns and prac-

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 tices, and indeed social stereotypes. Some ofthe narrativesstrongly implied thattourists are alsodefined by their desire toparticipate in activitiesperceived tobe ofsecondary or marginal interest topeople ofCarribean descent. One particularactivity that was commonly perceived asapopular feature oftourist-type behaviour was thatof sunbathing. Errol, for instance, remarked: Touristsgo to the Caribbean toget atan,it’ s anobviousthing forthem to do.That’ s why alotof white people goto hot places . ..Youmus’ have heardthis, ‘ Only maddogs and Englishmen prefer tosit in the midday sun’. This is true, they like to burn themselves up man, big time! Delphene also declared: 408 Current Issues in Tourism

Iwouldn’t wantto goand sunbathe. I maysit in the sun nowand again because it’s there allthe time,but it’s forwhite people todo. ..They doitall the time in places like Barbados. Marvinviewed the actof sunbathing asasourceof amusement,implying thatit was not a major priority for people from the Caribbean: Yousee dem tourismpeople in St Vincent doin’de tanonde beach ...Dere isan oldAfrican sayin’ , ‘Walkwhere de elephant walkan’ you won’t get de sun stroke’. De white man,de red skin man,is not as wiseas deelephant, but de blackman knows dese tings,he use toit...Yousee plenty white people lying aroundan’ de darkydere, well dey notas foolish,dey shade under de tree. Onamorepersonal level, Elaine explained thatshe wasdisappointed with her formerEnglish partnerwho during their visitto Barbadosspent mostof the three weeks ‘lapin’up the sun’, insteadof mixing withher family andbecoming more acquainted with the ‘Bajan way of life’. Junior, whooften askedthe researcherto brief him onemergent issuesin the field, commented on informants’ views of sunbathing activities: Yesit is allon the rightlines. Youdon’t see it[the suntan]as abig thing ... Well it’s like takingbricks to Accrington[Lancashire: the researcher’s birthplace] . . . that’s whatyour town is famous for, in it?[manufacturing red bricks] ...So if you areused tosomething why gosomewhere else andget moreof it?The sun issecond nature to blackpeople, especially the older people ...Yes,it’ s alwaysnice tositout sometimes and soak a bit ...but, but it’s not a big thing. Turner andAsh(1975) note that given the increasingsignificance ofsunbathing asamasstourism activity, the acquisitionof a suntanis nowconsidered to be a quintessentialpursuit forthose of European origin,symbolising not only atouristidentity but alsoa racialidentity. Furthermore, Rojek (1993:190) maintains thata suntanrepresents anew identity associatedwith the ‘abandonmentof work’. He alsoemphasises that media representations popularly convey the productiveand universal attributes of the suntan:‘ health’, ‘leisure’, ‘vigour’and ‘sophistication’ (1993: 190). Yetfrom the abovenarratives it appears that the suntansignifies the actof being

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 ‘white’, ‘English’or ‘ European’. Thusthe actof sunbathing isnot socially perceived asan ultimate leisure pursuit,nor is viewed asasignificantpriority in the livesof those concerned. If itis to be assertedthat the suntanis a universalsign oftourismconsumption (Rojek, 1993)and a symbolof tourist identity (Turner & Ash,1975), then in thiscontext it could be argued thatUK Caribbeanvisitors do not fully consumetourism and do not significantly adopt a touristidentity. Negativeperceptions andstereotypical approximations of tourist-typebehav- ioursuggest that members ofthe studygroup activelydifferentiate themselves fromtourists in anattempt to establish their ownroles and statuses. Tourists were defined in wayswhich represent adirectcontrast to visitors’ self-perceptions,personal experiences andpatterns of behaviour.Accordingly, tourists were conceivedas thoseindividuals who had restricted access to localterritory, Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 409

limitedcapacity to acquire local knowledge andregular involvementin more popularand less meaningful pursuits.Moreover, their imperious attitudes towardsvisitors and locals alike often contributedto their statusas ‘tourists’. Tour- istswere perceived in monotypicterms as a group oflike-minded individualswho havecommon ideologies and cultures, and similar patterns of behaviour. The processof categorisingand perceiving touristsis influenced bysocially andpolitically constructed encounters and experiences, therefore illustrating waysin whichethnic boundariesare mediated and group differences and memberships aredefined. AsJenkins states,‘ Toput Othersin their place isneces- sarily to claim a place for ourselves (and vice versa)’ (1997: 166). The perceptions thatindividuals have of tourists,together with their own internalisedself-perceptions, seemingly expose the ethnic andracial differences existingbetween the twogroups.However, claiming a clearlydefined identity is by nomeansan easytask for UK Caribbean visitors,especially astheir rolesand statusesare also defined by hostcommunities in wayswhich distort perceptions of themselves.

Being a foreigner People’s statusesand roles can also be contextualisedthrough indigenous interpretations.Despite attemptsby members ofthe studygroup todissociate themselvesfrom tourists, there wasa general recognitionthat their identities withinhost environments can be personallyambiguous. As Antonio,an elderly informantwho had lived in Barbadosfor the first20 yearsof hislife, explained: If Igoback now, I don’t sayI’ matourist,but it’s the people wholive there ...they’d pick up onthings very quickly, especially if you havenot been keeping in touchwith your roots . ..They label you as‘ foreigner’, you’re abit alien.As soonas you arrivethere atGiantly Adams Airport, they’d knowyou asa ‘foreigner’. ..ButI think there aretwo different concepts,you [the researcher]would be seen asatourist,we’ d beseen asa foreigner. It just depends on who is looking at who. Errol described why he was perceived as a ‘foreigner’ in Jamaica: Iaskedmy brother. ..He livesin St Elisabeth[a south-western parish] . ..I askedhim aboutpeople whokept sayingto me thatI wasa ‘foreigner’, because Iwasn’t prepared forit. He saidto me,if Icanremember, itwas somethinglike, ‘Yuisfamily framforeign place so,so yu isaforeigner ... Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 Yu‘ aveways dat is different tome but, but different todem white tourist’ dem’ . . . I laughed mi bloody socks off! Lloyd,like Errol,did not expect tobe referred toasa‘foreigner’during hisfirst trip to Jamaica in the mid-1980s, stating: People were sayingnow and again, ‘ Hey yu, foreign’, addressingme like that. ..Ididn’t cottonon toit at first.I didn’t realiseit was directedat me.I wasa bit shocked. ..Isawmyself going tomyhomeland. ..Well they see yourclothes, the thingsyou goton, the English accentsand all that, and they say ‘y’ foreign’ . . . That’s the way it can be. Longmore interestingly described her travel experiences in Jamaica: 410 Current Issues in Tourism

Many headsturned onseeing mein the marketplace, blank eyes gazingat me,and expressionless mouths muttering, ‘ foreigner’. Ittook me along timeto realise that ‘ foreigner’was notmeant as an insult,but merely abald statement. ..They couldtell Iwasaforeigner by the wayIwalked,and the clothes I wore, long before I opened my mouth. (1989: 17) Paulette,who had lived mostof her life in the parishof Portland(East Jamaica), provided amorelocalised account concerning the classificationof ‘foreigners’: People there callblack people whovisit ‘ foreign’. If they [the foreigners] go backand show off onpeople andthey havea creditcard and hire acar,they [the locals]call their behaviour‘ pop-style’. ..they get their jewellery outof the cataloguejust to makethemselves fancy ...they’re different, especially the youngsters,to showsome prosperity, so they get called‘ foreigner’or sometimes‘ English’. ..If people whogo back now and don’ t staywith their relatives. ..they get called‘ blacktourist’ . ..Butit’ s sarcasm,they’ re nota tourist really . . . There were occasionswhen severalof the informantswere labelled ‘English’ during their visits. Joyce, for instance, said they tell you thatyou’ re anEnglish girl.You lookdifferent andtalk different. But I have Grenadian blood in me, so it affected me a bit. The socialconnotations associated with being foreign (orEnglish) mayques- tionone’ s identity asaJamaican,Barbadian or Grenadian. Despite wantingto embrace one’s culturalheritage andethnic roots,the experience ofvisiting the ancestralhomeland can encourage individualsto reassess their ownidentities. Thus,identities are not fixed but ‘areconstantly producing andreproducing themselvesanew, through transformation and difference’ (Hall, 1990: 235). Travelexperiences present diverse socialcontexts within which individuals haveto reconstruct their identitiesas aconsequence ofbeing culturallydisplaced and socially disconnected from the ancestral homeland. In anattemptto clarifythe reasonswhy particularidentities were perceived as being problematic,the researcherprovided Junior witha writtensummary of the problems that informants had encountered. Junior thus explained: Yes,I canunderstand this foreign thing,it gets to you abit ...When you are overhere you naturallyidentify withyour heritage overthere [Jamaica], Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 because ofyourcultural upbringing. So when you get there andyou arenot instantlyseen asaJamaican. ..it’s abit disappointing. ..Listento me now Stevy [the researcher’s personalnickname], you see the wayIsee itas well, it’s notthe learning processthat we havebeen taughtand forced to learnin Britain. ..throughyou white people. Yousee usas Jamaican or West Indian,whatever. We canfeel itaswell don’t get me wrong,but when you visit the place the whole concepts mash up! Riley’s (1985)novel, TheUnbelonging ,illustrateshow feelings of‘ homeless- ness’within metropolitan communities can be reproduced throughalienated travelexperiences withinthe ancestralhomeland. She presentsa fictitiousnarra- tiveof ayoung woman,Hyacinth, whose positive vision, myths and fantasies of Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 411

Jamaicamade her endure araciallyhostile and impoverished life inBritain.The dilemmafor Hyacinth was when she eventually travelledto Jamaica,a country whichshe hadleft atayoung age –she felt asthough she nolonger belonged. Her socialdisconnection from her ancestralisland exacerbated her feelings ofloneli- ness and isolation. These ambiguousand awkward experiences highlight acommunityof people thatcould be consideredas a‘halfwaypopulation’ (Hollinshead, 1998: 71). The concept,‘ halfway’, wasdeveloped by Bhabha(1994: 13) torefer toanindividual who‘ inhabitsthe rimof anin-between reality’. In hisapplication of Bhabha’ s (1994)work to the dialecticalstudy of cultural differences in tourism,Hollinshead (1998)attempts to clarify the complexsituational context of ‘ halfwaypopulations’. He asserts:

‘Halfwaypopulations’ are those communities of people whoare caught in difficult culturallocations or in strainedrepresentative situations, in awkwardintervening spacebetween establishedframes of reference, or whoare otherwise sandwiched or lost between establishedand emergent identities. (Hollinshead, 1998: 71)

Halfwaypopulations are ambiguously positionedin termsof their ‘split(hybrid) identities’and ‘ split(liminal) locations’(Bhabha, 1994: 216– 17). Importantly, Bhabhamaintains that the ‘journeys ofmigration’ and the ‘dwellings ofthe diasporic’have generated ‘psychic anxieties’(1994: 213– 14) among those who areinvolved in a‘restlessmovement’ of ‘here andthere hither andthither, backand forth’ (1994: 1). Consequently, the dailyfrustrations of leading double livesand engaging in borderline experiences canprovoke emotional anxieties for members of diasporic communities. The processof becoming temporarilylocated or relocatedinto the ancestral domaincan be traumatisingfor UK Caribbean visitors,particularly in cases where travelexperiences andencounters create personal anxieties over self- identificationand social position. The disjunctive conditionof being a‘foreigner’ in the ancestralhomeland can initiallyconfuse one’s self-identity andchallenge one’s positiveidentification with that destination. The foreigner conditionargu- ably reflects anenforced historyof ‘unbelonging’, but thiscondition should not necessarilybe directlyequated withthe statusof a‘foreigner’within a metropoli- tancontext. In the UK, forinstance, members ofthe Caribbean communityhave

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 arguablyhad to deal with the ‘horrorsof their exile’(James, 1993: 244). Critical enquiries concerning racerelations in the UKhaveprofiled the inhumanities facedby blackcommunities: racial surveillance, racial violence (Fryer, 1984; Ramdin,1987), economic exploitation (Rex, 1973; Rex & Tomlinson,1979) and institutional racism (Peach & Byron, 1993; Small, 1994). Although the aboveethnographic narratives indicate that those who had travelled tothe ancestralhomeland did not feel fully acceptedas partof anational societyor ‘bounded community’(Barker, 1981: 21), feelings ofcomplete isolation fromCaribbean islandlife were notsignificantly forthcoming. Despite initial problemsin adjustingto the new environmentand concerns over identity issues, variousmembers ofthe studygroup impulsively discussedhow particular strategies could be employed to help them adapt and conform to island life. 412 Current Issues in Tourism

Lucia,a locallyknown writer in MossSide, hadvisited Jamaica on twoocca- sionssince leaving the islandin the early1960s and explained howshe hadto readapt to the norms of the community: When migoYard mi’aveto tink backwen milive dere, like wen migo on a bus an’mi waanget off it,mi ’aveto shout, ‘ Stop bus!’. ..Miknownow mi ’aveto takeoff mijewellery an’look like dem.You ’avetopick up ona ‘hole heap of tings, if yu don’ do dese tings people make joke. Travelexperiences thusmay help toreconstruct displaced knowledge. Yet, despite the relearning processthat Lucia had to undergo, experiences canbe moredifficult forthose who had not lived in the Caribbean.This issue wasfirst acknowledged in one observedconversation in the saunaat the MossSide Sports Centre, when one young manhad remarked to hisfriend the difficulties he had encountered during his first visit to Jamaica: Youget hassleda lot.These people comingup andselling thingslike jerk pork an’a whole heap ofthings,troubling you.It really began tofuck with my mind! . . . I thought they were my brethren. It upset me . . . Hisfriend, whohad apparently been toJamaica on severaloccasions, suggested: Nexttime you godo whatI do,dress locally man . ..Tryan’ speak some patois,tell themyou’ re fromTreawny or St Jamesor wherever andshow respect, be more relaxed . . . Othernarratives indicate how it is possible toconfrontor even resolveany previ- ousdifficulties thatone mayhave experienced in adaptingto the homelandenvi- ronment. Valerie, for instance, said: Nexttime I goto Jamaica,apart from taking presents and some clothes, I’ m going togo with the bare necessities,not over the top.I’ mgoing totry to be more Jamaican . . . In developing adeeper understandingof the culturalnorms of islandlife, individualsmay haveto endure trialand error experiences. Yetthey canexperiment withdifferent methodsin anattempt to confront or challenge anyprevailing differences. Joyce, for instance, stated: Itooka lotof culturalbaggage withme toGrenada. ..Youknowhow we arein England,ruled by the clock.Well, when Ifirstwent, I waswith my Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 cousinand we wouldwalk fast all over the place ...Butwhat happens is thatthey [the locals]say to you,‘ Slowdown, take it easy’. ..they kind of teach you how to do things in a way, how to be a part of it all. These narrativesindicate ways in whichindividuals can confront and contest their ‘foreigner’status. They alsoillustrate how it is possible forindividuals to constructivelymanage and redirect their ownanxieties into positive outcomes: havingmore potential to become slowlyaccustomed to the culturalcodes of Caribbean islandlife thanto the culturalcodes of tourism.This possibility does notnecessarily extend toothers:post-tourists, for instance, although wanting to embrace the ‘backregions’ of othercultures or societies,often remainas ‘outsid- ers’, consciousof the factthat their own‘ received conventions,beliefs andprac- Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 413

tices’are indeed ‘problematic’(Rojek, 1993:185). Whilst members ofthe study group were alsoaware of the differences thatcan prevail withinthe homeland society,their ethnic histories,cultural knowledge andsocial experiences provided themwith the necessarycultural skills to socially engineer difficult situations,roles and events. Moreover, the pursuit ofmultiple andintense experiences caninspire visitorsto become reacquaintedor moreacquainted with the hostcommunity. This opportunity is not completely open tothosewho are in search of decentred, temporary and singular experiences, i.e. post-tourists. Consequently, there arethree fairly distinguishable (self-oriented) percep- tionswhich illustrate that members ofthe studydo not significantly identify themselvesas tourists: personally viewing their ownintentions, behaviour patternsand activities as distinctfrom tourists; conceiving themselvesas indige- nousmembers ofthe hostcommunity in situationsdefined by tourists;and perceiving themselvesas ‘foreigners’in situationsdefined by hostsand family relatives.Nonetheless, these categorisationsare by nomeans fixed orabsoluteas itis possible forindividuals to contest prescribed statusesand roles in anattempt to mediate their own personal identities.

Family expectations: Gifts, presents and material items The conceptualcategorisation and application of UK Caribbeansas ‘foreigners’by members ofthe hostcommunity is arguably multi-dimensional. Individ- ualswere classified,not always on the basisof having ‘ foreign ways’or displaying culturalhabits that seemed tobe atoddswith the normsof the host culture, but alsoin termsof their capacityto represent orpossessmaterial wealth. Thisissue was particularly evident in narrativeswhich described people’s initial encountersin the ancestralhomeland, especially thoseconcerning the range of expectationsthat host families have of their visitingrelatives. Valerie, for instance, commented: The maindifference isthat they think wearerich . ..They think wehaveit goodover here ...There isa problem when you gothere, you get some family expecting thingsfrom you. They saythingslike, ‘Wha’yuh gotdere gal?’They lookyou up anddown and see whatyou aregoing togive them. They are very offended if they don’t get anything. Elaine expressed similar concerns:

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 When you gothere [Barbados]people think thatyou havemore money thanthey have. ..they wantshoes and items, whatever you have.But you see they don’t realisethat you havesaved for like umpteen yearsto be able toafford two or three weeks ...When myfamily go,they comeback here with forty kilos less than when they went . . . Staying withfamily members maymanifest latent forms of social conflict. This wasevident in caseswhere individualsfelt obliged andsometimes pressurised to make material contributions. As Caroline explained: they mayhave less money in comparison,but they fail torealisethat holi- daysare becoming cheaper andcheaper, soyou aregetting the lower incomebrackets over there ...My uncle wouldbe sayingthings like, ‘You 414 Current Issues in Tourism

havea littlemoney toput petrolin the car,I haveto fix thisand I haveto fix that’. Hisperception ofmy wealthwas far more than I actuallyhad, so it pressurisesyou ...They think England ispaved withgold. But you see alot ofthemdon’ t get the opportunityto travel, except when they haveto search forwork . ..So yes,they don’t get toknow the problems blackpeople have hadto suffer, andthe sortof jobs weget,and the level ofblackunemploy- ment. ..We knowtheir position,to an extent,’ causewe travelthere andsee it, but they don’t get to see our situation. The socialantagonisms that individuals face during their visitsto the ancestral homelandhave been briefly acknowledged in Khan’s (1977)study of the Paki- stani(Mirpuri) communityin Bradford(UK). The workrevealed howtrips to the ancestralvillages in Mirpur (Pakistanidistrict in Kashmir)often involvedunset- tling experiences. Mirpuri visitorswere usually expected tomake personal contributions(money andpresents) tofamily members andclose relatives. This obligationagitated some of the visitorswho generally found itdifficult tocope withtheir new economicstatus. Thus, they choseto stayin hotelaccommodation or reside in the city during their visits (Khan, 1977). In her firstvisit to Jamaica, two years afteremigrating from the island,Paulette explained how and why she was immediately seen as a symbol of wealth: Even though Ihavelived there mostof mylife, people wantthings from you ...Ifound thatit doesn’ t matterhow small it is, everybody islooking forsomething, because you’re comingfrom abroad . ..they justthink that thingscome easier. Some ofthemstill have this view thatEngland is the workshopof the world.They believe thatall the bestthings come from here andthat you arepart of it . ..like forexample, apairof leathershoes, they wantthem . ..It’s because people conjure animage,a product,and a lotof oldfolks would like, maybe,a souvenirfrom the Royals,Diana or Prince Charles. Itcould be argued thatthe economicopportunity to visitthe ancestralhomeland,the symbolicstatus of visitorsas consumersof Westernproducts and the preference by somevisitorsto use privatetransport to travelto different partsof the island,all variously represent actsof ‘conspicuousconsumption’ (Veblen, 1970).This behavioural characteristic is ascribed to particular types oftourist behaviourwhich illustrate a desire toexhibit one’s socialprominence toothers (Smith, 1993).Although ‘foreigners’may also be perceived in termsof their Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 economicprosperity and socially distinctive attributes, the responsibilitiesand obligationsinvolved in visitingrelatives indicate that these individualsare sociallyand culturally dissimilar to tourists. Yet despite someindividualsbeing financiallyreluctant to purchaseexpensive itemsfor family andfriends, the act of giving gifts and presents to others is indeed purposeful. Errol’s narrativeclearly explains why itis important to give presentsto family relatives: relativeshear that you arecomingand they justwrite and tell you directly whatthey want,a pairof Nike trainersor whatever. ..Jamaicansare not like the English,they justcome straight out with it . ..Icanunderstand it you know,because you arestayingwith them it saves you money andthey Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 415

dowhat they canfor you. They maketheir preparationsfor when you arrive.When you arethere they watchyour back, you knowwhat I mean?I suppose what goes around comes around . . . Joyce’s narrative suggests that the process of giving embodies a sense of duty: When you go,you don’t justtake things for yourself, like, like touriststend todo, or even me.If Iwasto go to France or anywhere outsidemy own family,I wouldtake things for me ...but itis part and parcel of yourduties totake presents with you [when visitingthe family] ...Iknowthat when people goto Grenada they takeother things such as letters and photo- graphsfor the family ...soit’s notjust commodities like kitchen utensils, ornaments.They lookforward to things that keep themin touchwith people over here. Valerie, however,had not anticipated the materialexpectations of others. She commented: Iwill goagain to miaunty’s house because if Idon’t she will saythingslike, ‘Wha’mi house nogood for yuh’ . ..Yesshe wouldtake offence ...but thinking aboutit, that is their wayof givin’. They dowhat they canbecause they aregladto see you.They picked meup atthe airport,sorted out sleep- ing arrangements and things like that. Itis customary for individuals to support family members living in the ancestraldestination. In her studyof the Nevisiancommunity in Leicester (UK), Byron (1994)noted that during the early yearsof migrationindividuals sent remit- tancesof money tosupporttheir relativesin Nevisand tofacilitatethe journey of particularfamily members tothe UK.Thisform of contribution involved a recip- rocalprocess as family members inNevishad financiallyassisted the passageof earlier migrants to Britain. The behaviour patternsassociated with taking gifts, souvenirs and personal itemsto the ancestralhomeland represent acontrastto the popular tourist conventionof bringing backsouvenirs from particular destinations. Various discussionshave focused onthe symbolicdimensions associated with souvenir collecting(Gordon, 1986; Harkin, 1995; MacCannell, 1976). MacCannell (1976: 150),for instance, emphasised that souvenirs can act as ‘ totemicsymbols’ of consumption,signifying toa wider audience thatindividuals have auspiciously

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 consumedother cultures. Gordon (1986) maintained that souvenirs can also metaphoricallyrepresent acontinuityof experiences andencounters by prompt- ing individuals to remember or re-enact short-term events. Yetthe takingof gifts, presents and personal items to the ancestralhomeland indicateshow individuals adopt roles which arebased more on altruistic concernsthan on personalaccomplishments. As the abovenarratives indicate, individualscan be viewed asintermediariesand/ orcommunicatorsof family knowledge, donatorsto the family householdand receivers ofhospitality. The giving ofpresents and the receiving of hospitalityembodies reciprocalsocial relationshipsbased on the mutualinterchange ofpersonalresources. These cour- teousforms of exchange arguablyhelp toestablishor re-establishintimate relations between family members. 416 Current Issues in Tourism

Furthermore,the processof giving andreceiving highlights the importanceof the ‘gift relationship’, i.e.the ritualisticexchange ofgifts for the purpose of endorsingone’ s identity asafamily orcommunitymember (Malinowski,1978; Mauss,1970). As Mauss (1970) would concede, the giving ofgiftsrelates not just tothe significance ofthe objectsthemselves but tothe qualityof personalrela- tionships that exists between individuals and groups 17. Members ofthe studygroup often spoke of,or exhibited tothe researcher, particularitems they hadacquired during their visits.Apart from the mostobvi- oussouvenirs (e.g. key rings,Jamaican and Grenadian flags, and local history books),perishable items(e.g. cashewnuts, flying fish,mangoes, sugar cane brandyand yams, which were either donatedby relativesor purchasedat local markets)were often brought tothe UKandshared between family andfriends. Although touristsoften return tothe homecountry with locally produced items (Gordon,1986: 142), UK Caribbean visitorsreturn withethnically familiarand culturallyspecific productsand souvenirs. These itemsrepresent notonly ataste of the ancestral island but an encounter with the ‘old country’.

Conclusions and Research Implications The studystrongly suggests that the desire totravel to the ancestralhomeland is,by andlarge, the outcomeof preformed mentalimages and retained cultural knowledge, reconstructedand transmitted within metropolitan societies. Mater- nalrelationships and social networks have an influential rolein promoting homelandaffiliations and identities. Importantly, the workhighlights two fundamentalneeds: tomaintainsocial ties with family members andto consum- matea long-term ambitionto claim or reclaim one’ s culturalheritage. Ethnic reunion allowsmembers ofculturallydisplaced communities to renew orrecon- structa personalassociation with the ancestralhomeland. Organic information, which hasbeen produced andreproduced throughlocal discourse and dialogue, seemingly hasmore of adirectrole in creatinga desire totravelthan the ‘language of tourism’. Motivationsto participatein ethnic reunion activitiesinvolve voluntaryand personalisedobjectives, and also socially interactive commitments. Nonetheless, ethnic reunion distinguishesitself fromother conventional forms of tourismin thatit entails practices of an obligatory nature. Yet it would be toosimplistic to argue thathomeland aspirations and experiences areprimarily based on people’s desiresand opportunities to ‘rediscover’their culturalheritage. As Hall Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 states:

The homelandis not waiting back there fornew ethnicsto rediscoverit. There isa pastto be learned about,but the pastis now seen, andit hasto be graspedas ahistory,as somethingthat has to be told.It is narrated. It is graspedthrough memory. It is grasped through desire. It is grasped throughreconstruction. It is not just a factthat has been waitingto ground our identities. (1991: 38)

Childhoodstories, community narratives and personal experiences enable individualsto construct and/ orreconstructan image of the homeland,and also to contemplatean identity ofthemselves.Although destinationexperiences and Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 417

encountersdo not always encourage individualsto perceive themselvesto be moreJamaican or Barbadian, for example, they doprovide anopportunity for themto reassess their ownidentities. People’ s personalengagements withthe ancestralhomeland involve a complexprocess of learning orrelearning oldprac- tices, adopting new values and embracing changed circumstances. The visitormay initiallypossess an ambivalentidentity, one which isliminal in natureand lies betwixtand between the ‘tourist’and the ‘host’. Thisposition is partlydetermined by particularsocial interactions, group categorisationsand unequal relationshipswith others. However, the processof dissociationfrom the adoptionof atouristidentity isillustrative of howboundaries between groups aremaintained and/ orrenegotiated. Members ofthe studygroup generally believe thatin comparisonto other tourists they havemore access to local terri- toryand greater intracultural insight into the localway of life. Individualsare further discouragedfrom imagining themselvesas tourists because ofthe culturalpractices and social expectations involved in visitingtheir familiesand friends. The processof learning orrelearning the culturalcodes of island life, encouraged throughmultiple experiences, parentaland peer group instructionsand trialand error experiences, providesvisitors with the opportunityto challenge their sociallyascribed positions as ‘ foreigners’. The degree towhich this challenge iseffective isdependent upon the extent towhich they allowthemselves to learnfrom others and adapt to islandlife, andwhether they areable toengage in future visits.Although visitscan entailnovel experiences, particularlyfor those whodo not frequently travelto the ancestralhomeland, the preacquisitionof destinationknowledge questionsthe extent towhich experiences areentirely diverse and perceptions are decentred. Future researchprogrammes which focuson the structuraland material prob- lemsaffecting people’s abilityto travel and participate in tourism,may contribute toadeeper understandingof how it could be difficult forparticular groups to perceive themselves(and be perceived by others)as tourists. Hence, if attention isdirected to examining the racialencounters and problems experienced by blackindividuals in ‘white destinations’in Europe (Stephenson &Hughes, 1995),it may be the casethat any personal aspirations to acquire a touristidentity in suchcontexts could be precluded onthe groundsthat people’ s statusesare defined moreby racialclassifications than by touristclassifications. Also, if researchstudies examine the extent towhich the commodificationof tourism

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 experiences directlyimpacts people’ s abilityto freely participatein tourism (Hughes, 1991),it could possibly be assertedthat individuals from economically marginalisedgroups (e.g. the UKblackcommunity) will find itdifficult to instantly engage in tourism and thus readily adopt a tourist identity. The prevailing view that‘ people aremuch ofthe timetourists whether they like itor not’ (Urry, 1990:82) is particularly concerning. It does not consider people’s rightto determine orinterpret their ownroles and statuses. Tradi- tionally,tourist perceptions andexperiences havebeen conceptuallyinvented andimagined througha myriadof arbitrary inferences andnon-empirical accountsof tourism behaviour. It is therefore essentialthat people’ s personal aspirationsand experiences areinitially observed within a range ofcontextsand settings.This point underlines the argumentthat enquiries concerning tourism 418 Current Issues in Tourism

motivationand behaviour ought to allow those concerned tospeak forthem- selvesand express their immediateneeds andinterests from within their own familiarand vocalised environments. The attemptto reveal multiple perspec- tivesand contending truthsis one constructiveway forward. Ethnographic researchwhich illustratesthe dynamicand complex nature of identity issuesin traveland tourism could arguably contribute to anunderstandingof the process of‘belonging’and ‘ unbelonging’, andcould also provide aninsight into how ethnic-based choices determine different travel experiences. Interestingly, Gilroy(1993a, 1993b)argues that black cultures are beginning to utilise arange ofcultural resources which exceed nationaland ethnic boundaries,especially thoseresources which reflect interculturalaffiliations with other blackcultures and societies. He assertsthat both the riseof internationalleisure industriesand the developing interestin global(black) products(e.g. musicand literature)provide anopportunityfor the ‘consolidationof diasporaawareness’ (1993a:33). Gilroy (1993b) thus maintains that black communities can create a sense ofnationalismthat extends beyond the boundariesof anation,encouraged throughmutual aspirations between culturesand societies of the ‘blackAtlantic’ (Africa,Caribbean, Europe, NorthAmerica, etc.) (Gilroy, 1993b). Gilroy’ s (1993a, 1993b)position further infers thatstudies of blackcommunities should examine waysin whichterritorial boundaries are disintegrating and black identities are decentring, especially asaconsequence ofthe increasingglobalisation of black cultures and economies. Consequently, the ‘BlackAtlantic’ perspective implies thatindividuals are in the processof decentring their identitiesand daily aspirations away from specific ethnic groups,kinship networks,place imagesand territorial boundaries.Whilst this perspective differs fromsome of the conclusionsraised in this paper, itmay directly apply toan understanding of the aspirationsof a new generation,i.e. third-generation minority groups. It could be the casethat such groupshave a lesserconnection with the ‘oldcountry’ in comparisonto first-and second-generation groups. Forthe moment,however, this study suggests that although experiences in the ancestralhomeland can provokeless structured self-identities ormore flick- ering, contextualand inter-subjective presentationsof identity,these identities arenot completely hybridised orpermanently fracturedby the interplay of disparateelements. Identity formationevolves as a consequence ofparental instructionand peer group ratification,processes which enable individualsto

Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 learnor relearn their culturalhistories and ancestral associations, albeit in more diluted forms.Visiting the ancestralhomeland can create alternative identities, suchas thoseassociated with being ‘foreign’, but these identitiesare not necessarily discontinuous with historical circumstances. Travelexperiences andencounters simply reflect new waysof auditing or checking one’s identity;an identity which isstill (inter-subjectively) attachedto the ancestralhomeland. In orderfor members ofthe UKCaribbean community tocontinue tocentre their aspirationson the homeland,it iscrucial for them to persistwith their lived experiences andtheir ownsocial forms of communication. Finally, itis important for future studiesto considerother UK ethnic groups, suchas the Bangladeshi,Jewish andPakistani communities. These particular Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands 419

enquiries wouldcontribute to the development ofamulti-dimensionalapproach tothe studyand practice of ‘ ethnic reunion’, illustratinghow ethnicity intersects withgender andreligious dimensions.Comparative studies which seek to addresssimilarities and differences between ethnic minoritygroups would help topromote a clearerunderstanding of the roleof ethnicity asasignificantvari- able in influencing andproducing diverse travelmotivations and experiences. Future contributionsshould not be tokenistic,simply paying fleeting attentionto minorityissues, but shouldemploy researchstrategies which aremore account- able to the views of those concerned.

Acknowledgments Iwouldlike tothank Prof. Graham Dann (University of Luton) andProf. HowardHughes (Manchester MetropolitanUniversity) fortheir constructive commentson earlierdrafts of thispaper. Iwouldalso like tothankmy colleagues atthe Universityof NorthLondon for their useful commentson the final draft:Dr RaoulBianchi and Prof. Gerry Mars, and also my formerUNL colleagues:Nikki MacCleod(University ofGreenwich) andDr Mike Weed (University of Loughborough). Iamparticularlygrateful toDr Keith Hollinshead(University of Luton) forhis thorough deconstruction of ‘ancestralhomelands’ , andto the anonymousreferees fortheir helpful comments.Finally, Iamindebted tomy research informants and to Junior for making this study possible.

Correspondence Any correspondenceshould be directedto Dr MarcusL. Stephenson, Interna- tionalInstitute for Culture, Tourismand Development, Universityof North London,Stapleton House, 277– 281 Holloway Road, London N7 8HN, UK ([email protected]).

Notes 1.The relevance ofthe VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market asanincreasingly significant form oftourism is acknowledged in several statistical-basedenquiries (Jackson, 1990; Paci 1994, Seaton & Palmer, 1997). 2.The conceptualusage ofthe ‘old country’was advanced byGans (1979:9– 11) in his enquiry ofethnic groups in North America. Heexplored how ethnic groups, especially first-generation migrants, developed ‘nostalgic allegiances’with the ‘old country’. Heemphasised how the ‘old country’serves a‘symbolic function’as amarker of identity, illustrated bythe political,economic and culturallinks thatprevail between Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 migrants and their ancestral homeland. 3.‘ Primary reference groups’are those groups with whom individuals have regular contactwith (e.g.families, peers and community members); sharing similar socialand cultural values. 4.Hitchcock (1999) presents athorough exploration ofthe situationalparadigm of ethnicity in the study of tourism. 5.Gilroy (1993b),in his analysis ofthe politics ofblackcultures, provides various examples concerning ways in which ethnic forms ofidentity are influenced byafusion of culturalstyles and tastes. One illustration wasthe popcultural movement of ‘hip-hop’, which wasthe productof African-American, Jamaicanand PuertoRican cultural influences. 6.This method ofassessment has been implemented in studies oflocal participatory planning in community tourism development, and arguablyis not particularly successfulin appreciating host views ofdevelopment: opinions, ideologies and struc- 420 Current Issues in Tourism

turalneeds. Mowforth and Munt (1998:244– 7) provide aninteresting overview and critique of such techniques within a community development framework. 7.Although the wider study utilised 15key informants, this paperonly deals with the views of12key informants. Although CurrentIssues in Tourism provides anopportunity topublish significant amounts ofdata, it wasnot possible torepresent the concerns and issues of all those who were involved in the study. 8.Spradley (1979:58– 68) discusses atlength the importance ofutilising the ‘casual/ friendly conversation’in ethnographic research, emphasising thatone ofits main attributes is thatit allows the ethnographer to‘ interview people without their awareness, merely carrying on afriendly conversation while introducing afew ethnographic questions’ (1979: 58). 9.The researcher wasan active member ofthe Moss Side Carnival Development Committee and also a volunteer youth worker. 10.However, it should benoted thatMacCannell’ s work did inspire others toempirically applyhis observations and perspectives tothe study oftourism experiences: Buck (1978), Gottlieb (1982) and Moscardo and Pearce (1986). 11.Urry (2000:50– 64) presents adetailed summary ofthe significance ofcorporealactivi- ties within different travel contexts.This summary thus highlights the socio-spatial practices entailed in various ‘travellings’. 12.There are arange ofinteresting enquiries which discuss the meanings and representations ofsacred sites and specialplaces. See especially the work ofCarmichael et al. (1994) and Reader and Walter (1993). 13.Horne (1984),for instance, wasconcerned with how European heritage sites reinforce the dominant components ofpublic culture: capitalism, neo-imperialism, patriarchal authority and European hegemony. 14.It should benoted thatsuch forms oftravel entailed aracialagenda. As Stauder(1980) notes, the interest byanthropologists in the study ofrace and slavery wasencouraged bythe concerns ofBritish governments and private groups toadvance their political and economic control of Africa and the Caribbean. 15.‘ Intra-island’discussions refers tothose conversations involving people who origi- nate from the same Caribbeanisland, whereas ‘inter-island’dialogue, illustrated later in the text,refers tothose conversations involving people from different Caribbean islands. Importantly, migration tometropolitan societies has created aninteresting mix ofinter-island dialogues, enhanced through communicationnetworks and island affiliationsand alliances (e.g.Caribbean cultural events, festivals and inter-island marriages). Given the proliferation ofinter-island relationships in post-migration societies, some observers have concentrated onexamining the various attributesof a ‘Caribbeanidentity’ as opposed toan ‘island identity’. James’s (1993)analysis, for instance, provides aninteresting discussion regarding the nature and characterof ‘Caribbean identities’ in the UK. 16.This programme wasfervently criticised bysections ofthe blackpress forpresenting a narrow and unrepresentative accountof life in Jamaica,and alsofor reinforcing West- ern interpretations ofwhat constitutes a‘Yardie’( Voice (21February 1995b),13; Weekly Journal (2March 1995), 1)). The Yardie is often defined assomeone who is involved in Downloaded by [University of the South Pacific] at 15:57 01 February 2016 organised criminal activities, rather than someone who simply ‘comes fromYard’, i.e. ‘wasborn in Jamaica’( Voice (21February 1995a),3). The negative connotations associated with this term have been endorsed bypopularmedia forms such asnovels (e.g. Headley, 1992) and broadsheets (e.g. The Guardian , 10 June 1994: 6). 17.Berking (1999)provides adetailed examination ofthe socioculturaland reciprocal relations involved in gift-giving. This bookexamines the key sociologicalcomponents and culturalambivalences ofgift-giving, in particular,its complexcodes ofconduct and the range of motivations involved.

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