ABSTRACT
Drawing on Hazbun’s (2004) work, this chapter is premised on the argument that there is a need for more tourism research on the Middle East and North African in particular, which adopts a micro approach to focus on the process of reterritorialisation. A framework of reterritorialisation or a micro approach to development facilitates scholarly discussions on the various ways in which local communities, especially indigenous groups, are (re)articulating territorial particulars in the wake of globalisation. Furthermore, such an approach to examining tourism development can shed light on the various ways in which indigenous groups in the region are drawing on indigenous knowledges to navigate structural conditions in a way that allows them to use tourism as a tool that contributes to community well-being. Hence, building on the concept of reterritorialisation, this chapter focuses on the following questions: What is indigenous knowledge and how is it related to North Africa? How is indigenous knowledge related to development in general and to tourism development in particular? How do researchers engage differently with indigenous communities in attempting to understand how communities negotiate reterritorialisation? Further research on these questions is necessary to allow tourism scholars to go beyond deterritorialisation so as to allow for an understanding of new articulations of place informed by reterritorialisation and inspired by decolonial philosophies.
