0000000000309122
AUTHOR
Njeri Chege
TOURISM, CHARITY, AND FATHERS’ FUNDRAISING STRATEGIES FOR THEIR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION ON THE KENYAN COAST
Increasing empirical evidence shows that child-raising and children’s formal education are influenced by and embedded in cross-border processes and constellations. In Kenya’s South Coast region, widespread support for children’s education is taking place through the long-term relationships local men and women are establishing with tourists from the global North. In this regard, seemingly casual beach encounters initiated by local fathers — who invite western tourist acquaintances to visit their villages and homes — have become a common parental strategy for engaging with tourists who have the potential to become sponsors for their children. In this article we look at the social, economic, a…
‘If you give me time I can love you’: A Pregnant Researcher among Male Beach Workers on Kenya’s Liminal South Coast Beaches
In this paper I discuss how while carrying out research among male beach workers in Kenya’s touristic South Coast region – in relation to their quest for livelihoods through sexual-economic relationships with visiting white women – I became a participant in the phenomenon I set out to study. The article’s contribution is twofold. First, I draw on my interactions with some of the men I met on-site, and in particular my encounter with ‘Weston’ – a migrant beach worker, his unexpected behaviour towards me as a pregnant emigrant Kenyan researcher, and the ambiguity and awkwardness of our exchange, to tease out and offer insights into the behaviour, practices, and gender ideologies held by male…
Towards a Deeper Understanding of the Meaning of Male Beach Worker-Female Tourist Relationships on the Kenyan Coast
<p>Knowledge and research on sexual-economic relationships between local men and Western female tourists in different touristic locations around the world has grown, as has public interest and awareness of the phenomenon. However, the direct perspectives of the men whose lives constitute the focus of such studies remain scarce. This has resulted in the phenomenon being understood mainly and inadequately through the concepts of 'romance tourism' and 'female sex tourism'. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Kenya's South Coast region, this article foregrounds the voices of male beach workers and the meanings they assign to these relationships, against a backdrop of the histori…