Abstract

Sugar as a global commodity has shaped our world, impacting cultures and influencing cuisine. The heritage of sugar is investigated in the context of globalization and tourism development. Facets of the sugar story include colonization, enslavement, decolonization and postcolonial tourism while cultural practices traced to sugar include carnival and confectionery as souvenirs. However, what happens where sugar is still produced, where production is in decline, or where the country has exited from producing? How is sugar engrained in national identities and how does this influence tourism? From the perspectives of contributing authors, destination examples include Brazil, India, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts. This is the first work examining sugar heritage in relation to tourism from a global perspective, identifying related tourism directions.

The book’s eleven substantial chapters are uniformly well-written and well-researched, with substantial bibliographies and numerous useful tables and figures.

This fascinating book delves into another element of heritage that has not been adequately examined by tourism scholars. Its coverage of sugar and all that sugar production entails as forms of heritage is extraordinary and commendable. The work is a valuable contribution to the burgeoning scholarly theme of 'heritage of the ordinary', and its chapters are loaded with decisive discourses on globalization, slavery, colonialism, social inequities, collective amnesia, place identity, and contested heritages, to name but a few conceptual pearls. Its worldwide perspectives and strong conceptual grounding make Sugar Heritage and Tourism in Transition essential reading for heritage and tourism scholars everywhere.

[This book] will be welcomed by readers of all profiles whose eyes it will open to one of the latest tourism trends, and who will enjoy its clear and direct style of writing and many clearly illustrated points.

In thematically-linked and interdisciplinary essays, Sugar Heritage and Tourism in Transition offers a comprehensive, thoughtful and sensitive overview of the challenges confronting former sugarcane producers as they convert to tourism-based economies and strive to attract tourists by focusing on their nations' sugar heritage, including slavery and indentureship, without compromising its authenticity.

Lee Jolliffe is a Professor of Hospitality and Tourism, University of New Brunswick, Canada. With a museum studies and tourism background, her research interests include studying how culinary heritage and tourism intersect. Recent publications include the edited volume Sugar Heritage and Tourism in Transition (Channel View Publications, 2013) and the co-authored volume (Hilary du Cros and Lee Jolliffe) The Arts and Events (Routledge, 2014).

This book makes informative reading for all those interested in culinary, industrial, and heritage tourism and how all things are connected. It is this ‘connective’ aspect that sets it apart from many of the edited books that are marketed each year. It provides the reader with opportunities to see tourism from new and novel perspectives. Well worth a read.