Afrotourism as a decolonial strategy: memory, racial justice, and tourism development in União dos Palmares, Brazil

This paper examines Afrotourism as a decolonial strategy for promoting racial equity, heritage valorization, and community-based development. Focusing on União dos Palmares, home to Serra da Barriga and the historical site of the Quilombo dos Palmares in northeastern Brazil, the study investigates how Afro-diasporic heritage is being incorporated into contemporary tourism policies and practices. A qualitative case study approach was adopted, combining documentary analysis, field observations, and semi-structured interviews with policymakers, community leaders, heritage managers, and tourism stakeholders. The findings indicate that Afrotourism has gained increasing institutional recognition in Brazil through initiatives aimed at strengthening Afro-Brazilian heritage and cultural memory. However, its consolidation remains constrained by racial inequalities, governance challenges, limited community participation, and the risk of cultural commodification. The study demonstrates that heritage recognition alone is insufficient to promote social inclusion and racial justice. Rather, the transformative potential of Afrotourism depends on strengthening Afro-descendant agency, expanding participatory governance, and ensuring a more equitable distribution of tourism benefits. This paper contributes to debates on decolonial tourism, critical heritage studies, and racial justice by demonstrating how tourism can function simultaneously as a mechanism of recognition and as a site of contestation over memory, identity, and development.