240519 SE Identity Sell Out? (P4) (2019W)

Ecotourism promises performances of ancient cultures in close encounters with primordial "Wild Africa". Indigenous cultures are currently as much on sale as trademarked wilderness reserves. This phenomenon has come under a growing critique pertaining to its "neoliberal commodification". The Seminar aims to debate the critical literature on Ethnicity Inc. with a special focus on inhabitants of African borderlands. Their potential empowerment provides the background for empirical studies. One of the most important concerns is clearly the inclusion and adequate participation of local communities and indigenous peoples. The Seminar seeks to explore novel forms of inclusive conservation in (trans-)frontier zones. It questions sustainable development and environmental protection in parallel, with a vision that they may not necessarily fucntion as "natural enemies".
Against commonsensical readings of the Seminar seeks to revive open-ended positions of counterintuition. This may be framed as a key quality of social science, which somewhat sank into oblivion. At least in relation to research on the "neoliberal sellout" of nature and culture. Commonsensical readings of Ethnicity Inc. encouters have been interpreted as exploitative, unsustainable and even racist i.e. "bewildering". The Seminar, in contrast, explores, if such blanket judgements often tend to miss the (stand-) point of local communities in African borderlands. Thus, the papers and presented films focus on their voices and reflections on the sale of nature and culture in so-called ecotourism and ethno-tourism.