Abstract
Focusing on the field of politics and tourism, this chapter addresses the controversies surrounding the significance of events with a focus on Ghana's celebration of colonial independence. Celebrative events, like independence anniversaries and festivals, are ubiquitous in sub-Saharan Africa and often linked to European colonization and trade in commodities and slaves that characterized the sub-region over five centuries. Ghana, the first country to gain independence from colonial rule in the subregion, celebrates the event and some Diaspora-related festivals. The 50th independence anniversary and Panafest, a Diaspora-related event, are the focus of this chapter. The events are economically, culturally and politically significant to Ghana's tourism industry. However, the experiential economic, political and ethnocentric controversies surrounding the events tend to overshadow their cultural significance.