Ethnic Enclaves to Diaspora Entrepreneurs: A Critical Appraisal of Black British Africans' Transnational Entrepreneurship in London

In this article, the author examines the transition from ethnic enclave to diaspora/transnational entrepreneurship by Black African ethnic entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom through interview/case study approaches. Key issues at stake are whether diaspora/transnational entrepreneurship is a kind of adaptive process in self-actualization, economic empowerment, or competitive advantage or a strategy of reintegration with the country of origin. Leveraging duality of opportunities results in subjective successful business performance and personal contentment of the diaspora entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurship is crucial to business growth in Africa. This is particularly true with diaspora transfers to Africa playing a significant role in social, economic, and business developments.     

Developing an integrated conceptual framework to understand biodiversity conflicts

Although biodiversity-related conflicts are generally embedded into an ecological, economic and social context, reported studies often focus on only one of these aspects. The practical facilitation of such conflicts typically adopts an equally restricted view. The developing field of biodiversity conflict management is thus fragmented and, due to its generally insular case study approach, lacks theoretical underpinning.     

The Scottish Path to Capitalist Agriculture 3: The Enlightenment as the Theory and Practice of Improvement

The second in this series of articles traced the transformation of Scottish agriculture during the period between 1747 and 1815. The Scottish Enlightenment is usually seen either as a passive expression of these and related economic changes, or as a local variant on European-wide intellectual trends with little direct connection to economy or society. In fact, it was directly involved in the transformation in three ways: as a theory of socio-economic development ('political economy'), a programme for agrarian change and the movement for its implementation ('Improvement'). The Scottish Enlightenment theorists were always conscious of the oppressive aspects of the division of labour which were inevitable under their own model of 'commercial society'. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, they became increasingly aware of how 'actually existing capitalism' concentrated power in ways that the model had not predicted. Faced with the counter-revolutionary onslaught on British radicalism which occurred in response to the French Revolution, the Scottish Enlightenment shattered under the weight of these contradictions into its component academic disciplines. The economic aspects of the Scottish Revolution accomplished, political economy increasingly shed all elements of critique and became reduced to an intellectually rigorous justification for the now capitalist landowning classes and the emergent industrial bourgeoisie.     

Questioning the impact of the ‘graduatization’ of the managerial labour force upon the management of human resources in the Scottish hotel industry

This paper outlines the findings of a questionnaire survey returned by 125 Scottish hotels from a sample of 500 small and middle‐sized enterprises. We asked questions on the level of impact that hospitality graduates have had upon human resource management practices within individual units. The research reports that, although the cumulative graduatization of the managerial workforce appears to be under way, the main route to a permanent management post still remains one of practical work experience, rather than the attainment of a hospitality‐related degree. Although manpower planning is widely used by line managers for managing the conditions of local/external labour markets and operatives’ jobs, there is less evidence of a systematic approach to the management of graduate careers/skills or of the management of internal job structures and labour market processes in order to improve the quality of customer service. Our work suggests a need for smaller hotels to strike a fresh balance between traditional operationally driven approaches to people management and strategic human resource management frameworks.     

The roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans: A focus on the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles

Ghana is one of the countries visited by diaspora Africans seeking to trace their roots and reconnect with their kith and kin. However, promoting roots tourism to the African diaspora is a delicate undertaking. There is a need to understand the factors which are of importance to the roots tourism experience as this will help to package the roots tourism product appropriately to meet the expectations of tourists. This study therefore sought to examine the factors that underlie the roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans in Cape Coast and Elmina in Ghana. A cross-sectional survey of 264 diaspora Africans within the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles was conducted using convenience sampling procedures. The study identified four factors that underlie the roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans namely, host–guest relationship, authenticity, emotion and appearance of the slave castles. It is recommended that the roots tourism product is repackaged to include welcome ceremonies, visits to communities, re-enactment of the slave trade and initiation ceremonies in order to improve host–guest interactions.     

Teasing the boundaries of ‘volunteer tourism’: local NGOs looking for global workforce

Ongoing scholarly discussions on international volunteer tourism focus primarily on volunteer tourists as subjects and local communities as their near-static objects. This ethnographic study reverses that focus. Five developmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are explored as active agents that see tourists and travellers as a resource and a free workforce in Dharamsala's Tibetan diaspora settlement in India. These NGOs have found a unique way of increasing the volume of volunteer tourism by offering tourists and travellers accessible volunteering opportunities on the spot, particularly as English-language tutors for Tibetan newcomers. Tourists and travellers in Dharamsala are backpacker oriented and usually interested in Tibetan culture, representing a perfect target group for NGOs offering them meaningful encounters with Tibetans. This study aims to broaden the scope of scholarly discussion and conceptualization of volunteer tourism. It provides an example of how volunteer tourism could become an increasingly effective tool for NGOs in the Global South, in an increasingly equitable manner. It also demonstrates how the method found by the Tibetan NGOs contests the current critique of commodification in volunteer tourism. Within volunteer tourism, true empowerment of local communities can only occur when the locals are in control and able to set their own goals.     

Is the Magic of the Diaspora Fact or Fiction? A Study of Taiwan’s Trade Performance in the Bamboo Network

Abstract

In this study, we examine the relationship between the ethnic Chinese diaspora network (i.e., bamboo network) and Taiwan’s trade performance. The models are based on theories of international trade to examine hypotheses using panel data from the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1996 to 2012. The results indicate that the bamboo network has limited effects on Taiwan’s trade performance. Hence, the “magic” effect of the Chinese diaspora is debatable.     

Roots Tourists' Internal Experiences and Relations with the Ancestral Land: Case of Second‐generation Chinese Americans

Studying ‘roots tourism’ provides insights regarding various relationships between diasporic people and their ancestral countries. The goal of this study was to classify second‐generation Chinese American roots tourists based on the meanings of visiting China and a sense of belonging to China. Through the interpretive analysis of 34 interviewees, five categories emerged. The findings indicated various meanings of visit, although, overall, ties to the ancestral land seemed ceasing. Roots tourism, a temporal, infrequent visit, may not foster strong ties to an ancestral land. Yet, the study also revealed that the ancestral land still signifies as a special destination for diasporic people. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.