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Cultural tourism and representation strategies in the South African context: a case study of the Baleni and Fundudzi cultural camps on the Limpopo African Ivory Route by Varona Sathiyah Submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements of a PhD in the Communication Studies Department November 2019 1 Declaration I, Varona Sathiyah (student number: 216091558), hereby declare that this thesis is my own original work, has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university, and that the sources used have been acknowledged by complete references. This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in the Communication Studies Department in the School of Communication in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg. Signature: Date: November 2019 2 Acknowledgements My thanks go to my supervisor, Prof Keyan Tomaselli and my co-supervisor Prof Pier Paolo Frassinelli for their tireless support and immense patience throughout this undertaking. This research would not have been possible had it not been for their exceptional generosity. They covered the costs of the fieldwork from their respective research accounts. I am indebted to them for their unwavering commitment to this endeavour. My inclusion in Prof Tomaselli’s Rethinking Indigeneity project and the Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) has been the most influential and immersive socialisation process. The project embodies the tenets of collaborative learning. I express my gratitude to my fellow field trip travellers and in-situ mentors, Dr Shanade Barnabas and Dr Vanessa Wijngaarden. Thanks go to my phenomenal colleagues at the Communication Studies Department at UJ. I am appreciative of the time that Prof Mariekie Burger created in my schedule by reducing my teaching responsibilities for 2018. I am indebted to the National Research Foundation (NRF): Social Sciences and Humanities for their financial support through their award of a merit bursary. My thanks go to the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg for their financial support. Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily shared by the NRF or the University of Johannesburg. Thanks to Transfrontier Parks Destinations (TFPD) for facilitating my research at the cultural camps on the African Ivory Route, and particularly to Glynn O’ Leary and Eleanor Muller for responding to my queries. I appreciate the assistance provided by the staff and community members at the camps, particularly, Personia Makhongele, Mapula Malatji, Nelson Maphaha and Tshifhiwa Khangale for accompanying me during the interviews and assisting as translators. I appreciate the emotional support and concern expressed by Lindsay Leslie, Collen Chambwera, Prof Nyasha Mboti, Antoinette Hoffman, Dr Itunu Bodunrin and Dr Julie Grant. I am also grateful for the detailed comments provided by the three examiners. My extended family is a community-of-practice when it comes to fostering educational attainment. Devona, you got me through this. The final thank you goes to my parents, Vincent and Cheryl. 3 Abstract: This undertaking investigated whether the success of cultural tourism ventures depended on the intangible mental representations of a destination as opposed to the tangible infrastructural and physical aspects of a space. The hypothesis was that the creation and proliferation of anchoring narratives imbues a sense of authenticity, mysticism and intrigue to differentiate one destination from similar offerings. The Tsonga community of the Baleni cultural camp and the Venda community of the Fundudzi cultural camp respectively, both on the African Ivory Route in Limpopo, South Africa were the communities investigated. It is maintained that the intangible value contained in the narratives centred around the people, animals and ecological phenomena at a particular place bolsters the efficacy and desire for cultural tourism. The theory of perspectivism underpins how indigenous cosmologies incorporate natural phenomena and the mythology around sentient animals and plants into their worldviews and perceptions of reality. This theory was used in conjunction with Tzvetan Todorov’s literary theory of the fantastic—the liminal space between belief and disbelief—to delineate the scope of the investigation. Critical indigenous methods of inquiry were used to collect data through in-depth interviews of community members that resided close to the cultural camps. This method uses the worldview of the indigenous community as the starting point for the undertaking. Field notes derived from my participant observation were used to triangulate the data from the interviews. The findings indicate that syncretic religious and cultural practices that merge indigenous beliefs with Christianity are pivotal in representing the performed sacredness of ancestrally sanctioned natural ecological phenomena such as lakes, forests, hot springs, mounds of compacted plant-material that wobbled when stepped on and the demonstration of traditional salt-harvesting practices at the Klein Letaba river. These myths incorporate tales of rare animals such as white lions and white pythons. The intangible aspects of creating a sense of place—as opposed to only representing a geographical space—is indispensable to the cultural tourism strategies identified in this case study. 4 Figure 1: Map showing the 10 African Ivory Route camps in Limpopo Province (www.africanivoryroute.co.za). (Adapted from Sheik 2013). Fundudzi Camp Baleni Camp 5 Contents Declaration ........................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 3 Abstract: .............................................................................................................. 4 Figure 1: Map showing the 10 African Ivory Route camps in Limpopo Province (www.africanivoryroute.co.za). (Adapted from Sheik 2013). .......................................... 5 Chapter One: Introduction—it takes a village to maintain the African Ivory Route: origins of the route ................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Problem statement ................................................................................................ 10 Research questions ............................................................................................... 10 Organogram depicting the ownership hierarchy of the AIR camps: ................................ 11 Chapter Two: Establishing the parameters of study within the literature .......... 24 Cultural villages: from questionable beginnings to a legitimate present ............................... 27 The myth of the African Ivory Route ................................................................................... 41 Place and space: the creation of a myth .................................................................... 53 Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework............................................................ 63 Chapter four: Methodology—off to the field we go ......................................... 73 The research team at the Mukumbani village at the Fundudzi cultural camp, November 2017. Photo 1 .............................................................................................................. 76 Research design and data collection and sampling process .................................................. 85 Methods of Data Analysis .................................................................................... 101 Chapter Five104 Data Analysis chapter—finding meaning in the chaos ........ 104 6 Access road to the Baleni camp. November 2017 Photo 2 .......................................... 105 Rondavels at the Baleni cultural camp. November 2017. Photo 3................................. 106 Rondavel at the Fundudzi Cultural Camp. November 2017. Photo 4 ............................ 106 A fenced-off garden plot at one of the houses in the Mukumbani village at the Fundudzi camp. November 2017. Photo 5 ............................................................................ 107 Table 1: Demographic details of staff members and people who opted to be identified by their names as opposed to using a pseudonym at the respective camps in May 2016 and November 2017. ................................................................................................................................ 108 Figure 2: Map showing the villages in relation to the distance of the Baleni cultural camp…110 Figure 3: Map depicting villages in relation to the Fundudzi camp .............................. 111 Table 2: Demographic details of respondents