The socio-economic complexity of gift-giving and philanthropy through innovations in tourism in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

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The proposed research title is "The socio-economic complexity of gift-giving and philanthropy throughinnovations in tourism in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)". Tourism-related gift-giving in low income countries, referredto here as 'travel philanthropy', represents a global trend including private philanthropists travelling to Africaand engaging in questionable gift-giving practices directly to local recipients or via tourism businesses. There ishowever limited evidence about the meaning, significance and impact of gift-giving through tourism, and theperspectives of intended 'beneficiaries' are highly speculative. A study of this activity will contribute to widersocial science debates about aid dependency, and academic and policy discourses around the UN SustainableDevelopment Goals. This multi-stakeholder research is timely in addressing gaps in critical knowledge on giftgiving/receiving engagements and their relationships to tourism business management practices andinnovations in SSA. As an under-researched concept, travel philanthropy will initially be framed by theoriesdrawn from business innovation, tourism management and anthropology. A qualitative methodology, includingparticipatory research amongst local people in the 'aid chain', will offer the first empirically grounded taxonomyand comprehensive analysis of the 'impacts' of tangible forms of gift-giving on marginalised communities andthe processes that shape gift giving practices. A constructivist approach will be taken to the inquiry and aninductive analysis will allow theorisations to be shaped. Participatory and ethnographic methods, includingvisual and narrative methods, alongside semi-structured interviews and value chain analysis will be employed.An investigation across 2-3 SSA case study locations will produce comparative evidence that is currently lacking