FIELD WORK
“That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere… But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere.”
— Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place“
It is a peculiar sensation to stand on the soil of other nations and find one’s self, for the first time, a human being.”
— W. E. B. Du Bois
A Global Apartheid in Travel
Across continents, a quiet segregation shapes the travel industry: hotels, bars, and resorts exclude Black guests; eating halls for local Indigenous workers are segregated; wages are dismal, and physical violence is common. Black labor is permitted inside these spaces, while Black dignity is not. A global, informal apartheid survives under the cover of the tourism industry.
A Moment of Realization
Years ago, while conducting research in East Africa, I was denied entry to a European-owned hotel because I was Black. I was warned by friends not to try to enter, but because this was the 2010s, I refused to believe there could still be a whites-only hotel in post-apartheid Africa.
When I entered, two Black hotel workers, visibly guilty, said the hotel was full and that I was not allowed entry. Outside, street hustlers confirmed what my friends had said: that the hotel did not admit Black guests.
Since then, I’ve read about many such spaces—hotels, apartments, restaurants, and clubs in Europe, Latin America, and Africa—where Black people are quietly or explicitly barred. What I first thought was an isolated incident proved emblematic of a global pattern. The industry’s segregation is not a scandal; it’s the baseline.
FIELD WORK was born from that realization.
“Once you find yourself in another civilization, you are forced to examine your own.”
— James Baldwin
What We Do
FIELD WORK is an educational consultancy that develops anti-racist fieldwork and travel frameworks for students, researchers, and anti-racist travelers.
We design seminars and connect participants with anti-racist counterparts in the field who operate independently of the segregationist tourist industry.
Our goal is to make anti-racist travel on the Swahili Coast both visible and viable—challenging tourism’s segregationist norms.
What We Offer
Pre-Departure Seminars – Intensive sessions on the histories of empire, anti-imperialist struggle, and the racial politics of mobility in East Africa.
Local Partnerships – Introductions to independent African guides, hosts, and educators committed to anti-racist practice.
Anti-Racist Travel Consulting – Guidance for universities, study-abroad programs, researchers, and individuals seeking anti-racist frameworks for field engagement.
Field Modules – Coordinated learning experiences at sites of anti-imperialist history and contemporary struggle, off the tourists’ path.
Ongoing Advisory – Consultation for institutions building anti-racist travel curricula or partnerships.
We are not a tour operator. Participants book their own travel directly with local partners. We provide the political, ethical, and educational architecture that ensures their spending and presence serve their anti-racist exploration interests rather than segregation.
“Our visions begin with our travels. It is through movement that we learn the shape of our chains.”
— Audre Lorde
Fields
Each program begins in consultation to develop a field itinerary that links participants’ academic or personal interests with the historical legacies and contemporary realities of the Swahili Coast. The work proceeds through study, dialogue, and observation: engagement with artists, organizers, and historians who are shaping present forms of thought and resistance.
FIELD I – Stone Town, Nungwi, and Paje, Zanzibar & Dar es Salaam: Art and Life Against Empire — from the beaches to the capital, a study of how art, music, and everyday life respond to the intertwined legacies of enslavement, empire, and neo-colonial power.
FIELD II – Songea & Southern Tanzania: The Maji Maji Rebellion — a visit to the site where one of Africa’s most important anti-colonial revolts began, and its afterlives in present-day movements for self-determination.
FIELD III – Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, Jipe & Ngorongoro: Empire and Ecology — an examination of imperialist conservation and Indigenous struggle within the landscapes that continue to frame Africa’s global image.
Each field integrates site visits with directed study and dialogue with local practitioners. Itineraries are developed collaboratively; none are identical.
Mission
FIELD WORK begins from the premise that travel itself is political. You cannot “beat” racism in travel—it is built into the passport politics that decide who may move freely and who must beg or drown to cross borders. Nor can you beat racism by staying in “the West.” One of power’s most effective means of control is the control of information—and the control of knowledge about what is happening elsewhere—so that our interconnected struggles and lives appear disconnected, and problems occurring elsewhere seem unrelated.
FIELD WORK curates travel experiences beyond and against both segregationist tourism and the delusions of “sustainable travel.” Through preparatory study, rerouting of resources, site visits off the tourist path, and connecting independent, anti-racist producers, we aim to reverse traditional paths of exploration.
Consultations are available year-round.
“You can’t understand what is going on in Mississippi if you don’t understand what is going on in the Congo.”
— Malcolm X
“Exile is not separation from home; it is a confrontation with the world that made exile necessary.”
— Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Get in Touch
To discuss a FIELD WORK program or develop an anti-racist travel framework for your institution or group, please get in touch.