BURA Collection:
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8602
2024-03-28T22:05:32ZThe politics of cultural tourism in Nigeria: People, culture and power in the Calabar Festival
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/27014
Title: The politics of cultural tourism in Nigeria: People, culture and power in the Calabar Festival
Authors: Obijuru, Clementina Chibuzo
Abstract: Cultural tourism has been the subject of numerous academic and policy engagements in the Global North for its broad social, economic, and political functions in cities (Richards, 2018; Du Cross & McKercher, 2020). In the Global South, similar trends are emerging with dynamic patterns of exchange and transformations, yet they have captured much less academic attention so far. This thesis attempts to address the gap by analysing a particular case study in Nigeria, the Calabar Festival. Specifically, the research aims to unravel the dynamic interactions between the state, tourists and local communities as they interact and challenge each other in producing and consuming the festival. Drawing on ethnographic and policy research of the Calabar Festival, I seek to create an enhanced understanding of how cultural tourism can be a force reshaping situated power dynamics by setting the contexts for new relational frameworks that influence the cultural processes of places. The research findings unravel a complex interplay of power relations among the various stakeholders across geographic spaces. The Calabar Festival is a highly politicised event that connects broader local and transnational social and economic development practices and cultural negotiations through tourism. This study offers two original contributions. First, taking Du Gay et al.’s (1997) circuit of culture as a theoretical starting point to understand cultural tourism processes, this thesis develops the neo-circuit of cultural tourism framework and thereby demonstrates how the state, tourists and locals mutually construct destinations’ cultural offerings. Through interaction with each other and the event, these stakeholders are equipped with different power forms, to influence and contest cultural meanings on social and individual levels. Second, by advancing the notion of tourists as ‘modern cultural curators,’ this study highlights the spectrum of curation outside the traditionally restricted system of learnt practices, extending to one formed around more open and reciprocal exchanges. This thesis concludes that the interaction of stakeholders in the tourism circuit and their co-creation of cultural meanings appear to blur the boundaries of established forms of cultural agency, particularly as tourists are currently seen to perform as modern cultural curators. In doing so, the neo-circuit of cultural tourism framework provides a robust framework to understand current cultural conditions better.
Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London2023-01-01T00:00:00ZIllegal logging and nature conservation in Indonesian Borneo
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/26035
Title: Illegal logging and nature conservation in Indonesian Borneo
Authors: Thung, Paul Hasan
Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London2023-01-01T00:00:00ZThe United States’ psychological strategy board and operations coordinating board: national assessments and the Middle East, 1951 - 1958
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/25953
Title: The United States’ psychological strategy board and operations coordinating board: national assessments and the Middle East, 1951 - 1958
Authors: Joel, Michael C.
Abstract: This study examines the American intelligence community (IC) and the national security planning and coordination elements tasked with developing strategy and policy for the Middle East from the end of the Second World War to the invasion of Lebanon in 1958. While the history of American-Middle East foreign policy has been covered in the literature extensively, what has yet to receive the proper attention has been the role of special ‘planning and coordination elements’ established within the American intelligence and national security architecture after the Second World War. This study focuses on two of these elements: specifically, the Psychological Strategy Board (1951-1953) and the Operations Coordinating Board (1953-1961). This study asks the questions: can newly declassified archival material now available on the Psychological Strategy Board and the Operations Coordinating Board be used to provide greater context and new insights into America’s Cold War policy in the Middle East from (1951 – 1958)? What were these two coordination boards and what were the strategy and policy impacts that they had on American foreign policy to the Middle East? In the process, this study provides a comprehensive history of these two under-studied (and significant) boards adding substantially to our understanding of the American national security and intelligence history.
Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University2021-01-01T00:00:00ZThe intelligence-led national security architecture of Ghana and its three pre-conditions. An overlooked asset but key to the country’s long-term domestic stability
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/25898
Title: The intelligence-led national security architecture of Ghana and its three pre-conditions. An overlooked asset but key to the country’s long-term domestic stability
Authors: Eshun, Joe Sarbah
Abstract: In chronological order, this dissertation takes the reader through the story of Ghana, covering many decades of its historical and political journey to date. Whilst doing so, it also explains how such a journey helped define the evolution of the country’s intelligence-led national security architecture from the pre-colonial era to what it is today. Besides going through the decades, it also zooms in analytically on the relevance of the architecture under respective governments throughout the country’s history. The historical analysis indicated that throughout Ghana’s history, whenever a new administration assumes office and immediately puts in place an intelligence-led national security architecture to help attain and maintain domestic stability, is when the country is most stable. However, whenever there is absence of intelligence-led national security architecture, the country’s political and security landscape becomes unstable. Such trend has been consistent since independence to date, and not only that when one pushes further back into pre-independence as part of Ghana’s backstory, the trend is still applicable. This analysis helped establish that there is a relationship between the country’s domestic stability and its intelligence-led national security architecture, which embodies three pre-conditions: (1) Establish National Security Institutions, (2) Embark on Intelligence Activities, and (3) Implement Interagency Intelligence Coordination. Additionally, the age of the country’s democracy, the political and security landscape of the sub-region where Ghana is situated, and Ghana’s security sector governance, and oversight responsibilities; have all been evaluated to help argue the relationship between the role of the intelligence-led national security architecture and current domestic stability. Hence underscoring the relevance of the pivotal role being played by Ghana’s intelligence-led national security architecture in the fight to maintain stability in the country.
Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London2022-01-01T00:00:00Z