Dr. Christine Ampumuza

Senior Lecturer

Christine Ampumuza is a tourism and conservation scholar specializing in transformative tourism education, research methodologies, and making tourism work for the planet and people. In practice, she focuses on generating and sharing evidence-based information to guide tourism product design and planning for tourism development.  Christine holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, a Master of Science in Leisure, Tourism and Environment from the same University, and a Bachelor of Tourism degree from Makerere University, Kampala.

Christine actively participates in community work through consultancies and membership in various social networks. She is the Chairperson of the Capacity Building Committee of the Kigezi Tourism Cluster Platform and a life member of the Wildlife Clubs of Uganda.  She has led a consultancy team to conduct a gender analysis in natural resource management in the Greater Virunga massif and to profile the state of tourism in the Kigezi region, among others.

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Qualifications

PhD. Tourism & Conservation, (Wageningen University and Research -WUR), 2021

MSc. Leisure, Tourism, & Environment (Wageningen University and Research -WUR), 2009

B. Tourism (Makerere University), 2002

Research Interests

Tourism sustainability

Actor Network Theory

Transformative & creative research and learning methodologies

Community and women empowerment through tourism

Tourism product research, design and development

Tourism planning

Qualitative research

Publications

Tushabe, S. B., Ssempala, F., Ampumuza, C. & Mbowa, H. S. (2024). . (2024) . Socio-emotional Skills and Graduate Employability in the Hospitality Sector of South Western Uganda, Kigezi Sub -Region . Journal of Research Innovation and Implications in Education, [online] Volume 8(3). Nairobi: www.jriiejournal.com, pp. 483 – 492. Available at: https://jriiejournal.com/socio-emotional-skills-and-graduate-employability-in-the-hospitality-sector-of-south-western-uganda-kigezi-sub-region/
A. Ochieng, C. Ampumuza, M. Roelofsen . (2023) . Re-habituation and the More-than-human Bio politics of Gorilla Tourism in Uganda. . In: , Tourism and Biopolitics in Pandemic Times. Switzerland: Palgrave. Macmillan, pp. 65-84
Christine Ampumuza . (2022) . Living with Gorillas? Lessons from Batwa-Gorillas’ Convivial Relations at Bwindi Forest, Uganda . Conservation and Society, 20(2), pp. 69-78
C. Ampumuza, M. Duineveld, R. van der Duim . (2021) . Material Pacification: How a Conflict Over Paving Uganda’s Tourism Road Got Accidentally Resolved. . Tourism Planning & Development, pp. 1-16
Christine Ampumuza and Clemens Driessen . (2020) . Gorilla habituation and the role of animal agency in conservation and tourism development at Bwindi, South Western Uganda . Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, [online] Volume . Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2514848620966502
Christine Ampumuza, Martijn Duineveld, and René van der Duim . (2020) . The most marginalized people in Uganda? Alternative realities of Batwa at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park . World Development Perspectives, [online] Volume 20(2020). Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292920300874
Charles Tushabomwe-Kazooba, Imelda Kemeza, Manasseh Tumuhimbise, Edward Andama, Ronald Emojong, Esther Nansamba, and Christine Ampumuza . (2020) . Tapping into the Unsung Potential of Tourist Attractions for Development in Selected Municipalities in Uganda . Southampton: WIT Press, pp. 23 - 39. Available at: https://www.witpress.com/elibrary/wit-transactions-on-ecology-and-the-environment/248/37730
Christine Ampumuza . (2015) . Women Empowerment through Community-based and Rural Tourism: An Actor-network Perspective . Available at: http://videa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Women-Empowerment-through-Community-based-and-Rural-Tourism.pdf
John Bosco Nkurunungi and Christine Ampumuza . (2014) . Gorilla Habituation and Ecotourism Sustainability in Bwindi – A Social Perspective. . Gorilla Journal, [online] Volume 48. Muelheim, Germany: Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe, pp. 10-13. Available at: https://www.berggorilla.org/en/journal/issues/journal-no-48/article-view/gorilla-tourism-a-social-perspective/
Rene´ Van der Duim, Christine Ampumuza, and Wilber Manyisa Ahebwa . (2014) . Gorilla Tourism in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda: An Actor-Network Perspective . Society & Natural Resources , [online] Volume 27(6), pp. 588-601 . Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2014.901459
Christine Ampumuza . (2011) . Multi-level Partnerships in Uganda’s Gorilla Tourism: Power, Processes and Poverty: the Case of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park . Saarbrücken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, p. 148. Available at: https://www.lap-publishing.com/catalog/details//store/tr/book/978-3-8465-3546-2/multi-level-partnerships-in-uganda-s-gorilla-tourism:

Projects

Modelling Domestic Tourism against Demand and Supply Factors in Uganda

Dr Christine Ampumuza - Principal Investigator , Dr Nuwe John Bosco, Dr Florence Barugahara, Ms Esther Nansamba March, 2023 → March, 2024

Supervision

  • Fiasco, V., T.A. de Gast, Holl, Hulsebos, Jenniskens, Linßen, Wiersma. Voices that matter – Finding new Applications for Traditional Knowledge of the Batwa. Wageningen University Academic research consultancy project, 2019 – Graduated 
  • Lillian Katsimbazi – The impact of multiple borrowing on the financial performance of financial institutions: a case of Centenary Bank Kabale Branch, Kabale University Masters research – Graduated
  • Bashir Tenywa: Creative marketing and financial performance of small and medium businesses in Nyamata town, Rwanda. Kabale University, Master’s research—graduated. 
  • Mackline Ninsiima – Tourism supply chain management and sustainable tourism in Uganda – Kabale University PhD research – ongoing
  • Martha Begumya – Women’s Social Networks and Inclusion in Community-Based Governance in Wakiso District, Uganda – Kabale University PhD research – ongoing

Presentations

  • Living with gorillas? Lessons from historical convivial relations between the Batwa and gorillas at Bwindi, Uganda: a paper presented at the 3rd Biennial Political Ecologies Network (POLLEN) conference on Contested Natures: Power, Possibility, Prefiguration, June 2020, Brighton, UK.
  • Disruptive methodologies? An Actor-network theory perspective on Batwa-conservation and tourism controversies at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, South Western Uganda: paper presented at the Atlas Africa conference on Tourism and Innovation, June 2019, Kampala, Uganda
  • Conservation or Infrastructure Development? Beyond a political-ecological perspective on the competing claims on the Bwindi forest: paper presented at the first International POLLEN Conference July 2016. Wageningen, The Netherlands
  • Tourism, conservation and rural development: Experimenting the NE-DEED approach in resource use policy negotiations. A paper presented at the 9th Atlas Africa Conference on Tourism and Inclusive growth in developing economies, June 2015, Dar es salaam.
  • A Critical Review of the Conservation-Livelihood Conflict around Bwindi-Mgahinga Conservation Area, South Western Uganda. A paper presented at the 8th Atlas Conference on African Tourism in a global society: Central or periphery? June 2013, Kigali, Rwanda
  • Evaluating Human Capital and Sustainable Tourism Development in the Kigezi Region, South Western Uganda. A paper presented at the 8th Atlas Conference on African Tourism in a global society: Central or periphery? June 2013, Kigali, Rwanda
  • Socio-economic Impacts of Landslides and Floods in Kigezi Highlands, Southwestern Uganda. A paper presented at the International Conference on East Africa Mountains (ICEAM), 2011, Mbale, Uganda
  • Gorilla Tourism at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park: An Actor-network Perspective, A paper presented at the 7th Atlas Africa Conference on Sustainable tourism and environmental education: A natural link. June 2011, Kampala, Uganda.
  • Women Empowerment through Community-based and Rural Tourism: An Actor-network Perspective. A paper presented at the International Conference on Women’s empowerment through community-based tourism and cultural exchange: chances and challenges of grassroots development projects, November 2010, Kigali, Rwanda.

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