The Osun Osogbo festival in Nigeria: an investigation of Nigerian migrants in South Africa as homebound tourists and festival participants.

Abstract

This study investigated how members of the diaspora negotiate their identity during and through their return travel back to their home country. It explored the perceived significance of the tangible site, the intangible beliefs and the values which members of the diaspora attached to the Osun Osogbo sacred grove. The grove, which is the abode of Osun goddess, is one of the major cultural heritage destinations in Nigeria. Using the Osun Osogbo festival in Nigeria, the study focused on Nigerians, based in South Africa, who travel back to their birth country as VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) and festival participants. The study investigated the significance of migrants reconnecting with their cultural roots while exploring their spirituality. In a broader sense, the research looked at how the process of migration affected diasporic relationships to home, cultural roots, and spiritual beliefs, by probing the diasporic visitors’ experiences of travelling home, their beliefs, behaviour, and activities they engage in. This qualitative study draws from in-depth interviews, conducted with Nigerian migrants based in Durban, South Africa. The conceptual framework for the study was drawn from the concept of ‘the tourist gaze’; tourism as a sacred journey and identity theory. The study significance is hinged on its contribution to literature on heritage management and cultural tourism development from a Nigerian, and African context; as well as the cultural and heritage awareness it creates for Africans in the diaspora. Findings from the data collected showed that the search for a "familiar difference" was a major motivation for these return journeys. Furthermore, participation at the festival, for some attendees, goes beyond entertainment and merry making, but it is also necessitated by a host of other alternative motives. The study revealed a blurring on the distinction between tourism, pilgrimage, culture, and heritage tourism. Drawing from the findings, the study concludes that strengthening the relationship with home and root reconnection was the greatest motivation for these homebound tourists and festival participants. Enhancing cultural tourism in Africa (and in Nigeria in particular) will best be achieved if religion can be separated from culture.