Alluring Opportunities: Tourism, Empire, and African Labor in Colonial Mozambique

Alluring Opportunities explores the lives of African laborers in Mozambique's tourism industry, highlighting their social ascension and contributions to the local industry. It challenges the narrative of exploitation and reveals new ways of thinking about tourism's impact on empire, interracial interactions, and power relations.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 15 June 2023
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Alluring Opportunities delves into the captivating stories of African laborers in the vibrant tourism industry of Mozambique, a Portuguese colony. Despite facing challenging conditions, these hardworking individuals have achieved remarkable social ascension. From the colonial era to its end in 1975, the tourism industry thrived on the backs of these dedicated workers, becoming a significant source of foreign exchange for Portugal. In his insightful exploration, Todd Cleveland delves into the daily lives of local tourism workers, shedding light on the genesis and expansion of this vital industry. By complicating the narrative often reinforced by literature emphasizing the exploitation of indigenous tourism workers, Cleveland challenges the established narrative and expands the scope of analysis beyond Africa's borders. He argues that just as foreign tourists embraced the opportunity to explore Mozambique, many Indigenous laborers also seized opportunities in the tourism industry to pursue social mobility through steady wages and meaningful interactions with visiting clientele.

Through the reconstruction of these workers' lives, Alluring Opportunities showcases their indispensable contributions to the local industry. It also prompts a reevaluation of Indigenous labor and social mobility in colonial Africa. Cleveland's work offers fresh perspectives on the ways in which tourism shapes processes of empire, interracial interactions, and power relations. By delving into the experiences of African laborers in Mozambique, he contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics and multifaceted impacts of tourism on societies throughout history.

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501768316