Coups, castles, and cultural heritage: conversations with Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, former President of Ghana

Abstract

Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings is one of the most popular and provocative leaders in African history. A former President of the Republic of Ghana (1992-2000), Rawlings came to power through a military uprising in 1979 and 1981. In 1992 and 1996, he won multiparty elections to become the leader of Ghana for a third and fourth time. To date, Rawlings is Ghana's youngest and longest-serving leader. Renowned throughout the African continent and beyond, Rawlings continues to cast a charismatic figure in African politics, in what is often described as 'The Rawlings Factor.' In the late 1980s, faced with numerous economic challenges, Rawlings initiated heritage tourism facilitated by way of Pan Africanism as a means to economic and social development. Ghana's forts and castles became center stage, and continue to be so until today. In this edited interview, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and author discuss politics, economics, heritage tourism, and development.

The effect of brand heritage in tourists' intention to revisit

“…Also, most of the studies focused on other behavioural theories, such as push and pull motivational factors and perceived values, that influence tourists' behavioural intention (Adongo et al , 2015; Allaberganov and Preko, 2021; Atsız et al , 2020). Interestingly, within heritage, dark tourism is conceptualised and explored from tourists' experiences (Boateng et al , 2018), review of heritage and economic development (Engmann, 2020) and slavery heritage (Yankholmes and McKercher, 2015). There is lack of academic attention that focuses on heritage brand equity composed of international tourists' perspectives and intentions to revisit.…”

Slaving and Slave Trading in Africa

“…Over the years, successive Ghanaian governments have promoted heritage tourism and development (Engmann 2021a(Engmann , 2023a through initiatives such as the Pan African Festival of Theater and Arts in 1992, Emancipation Day in 1998, the Homecoming Summit in 2001, and the Joseph Project in 2007. These were accompanied by the provision of citizenship rights and dual nationality status and of land grants to diasporans, part of an effort to encourage foreign investment in Ghana more broadly.…”