1st Edition

Routledge Handbook of Critical African Heritage Studies

550 Pages 101 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

550 Pages 101 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

550 Pages 101 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This handbook is a foundational reference point for critical heritage research about Africa and its diaspora. Foregrounding the diversity of knowledge systems needed to examine heritage issues in such a diverse continent, the contributors to this volume: argue for an understanding heritage that is at once both natural and cultural, tangible and intangible, political and dissonant, going... Read more

Foreword: An African Critical Heritage Studies?

Webber Ndoro

 

Chapter 1: Introducing African Critical Heritage Studies

John D. Giblin, Ashton Sinamai, Shadreck Chirikure, and Ishanlosen Odiaua

 

Part 1: Useable Pasts, Justice and Society

 

Chapter 2: Part Introduction: Useable Pasts, Justice and Society

Shadreck Chirikure, John D. Giblin, Ashton Sinamai and Ishanlosen Odiaua

 

Chapter 3: Useable Heritage and West Africa: Liberation for the People

Caleb Adebayo Folorunso

 

Chapter 4: Post-Conflict Memory and Heritage: South Sudan and Beyond

Zoe Cormack

 

Chapter 5: Heritage the Use of the Past in Eastern Africa

John D. Giblin

 

Chapter 6: Heritage, Society, and Justice in Central Africa

Annalisa Bolin

 

Chapter 7: Heritage and Social Justice in Southern Africa: Rethinking Spaces of Community Involvement in Heritage Management

Vuyiswa Lupuwana

 

Part 2: Heritages of Slavery

 

Chapter 8: Part Introduction: Heritages of Slavery

Ishanlosen Odiaua, John D. Giblin, Ashton Sinamai, and Shadreck Chirikure

 

Chapter 9: Narrating the Slave Trade and Slavery Heritage in West Africa and its Diaspora

Rachel Engmann

 

Chapter 10: Slavery Tourism in Eastern Africa

Herman Kiriama

 

Chapter 11: Slavery Legacy in the Congo Basin

Noemie Arazi, Igor Matonda and Alexandre Livingstone Smith

 

Chapter 12: African Diaspora Heritage in the Americas

Christopher Fennell

 

Part 3: African Objects and the Global Museum-Scape

 

Chapter 13: Part Introduction: African Objects and the Global Museum-Scape

John D. Giblin, Ashton Sinamai, Shadreck Chirikure, and Ishanlosen Odiaua

 

Chapter 14: North Africa's Dispersed Heritage

Alice Stevenson

 

Chapter 15: Collecting (East) Africa in the Age of Empire

Sarah Longair

 

Chapter 16: Restitution, Repatriation and Reparation: Current Debate

JC Niala

 

Chapter 17: The Ethnicization of Namibian Human Remains from Germany: ‘Cutting across tribal affiliation’

Vilho Amukwaya Shigwedha

 

Part 4: Perceptions of an African Cultural Landscape

 

Chapter 18: Part Introduction: Perceptions of an African Cultural Landscape

Ashton Sinamai, Shadreck Chirikure, John D. Giblin and Ishanlosen Odiaua

 

Chapter 19: The Decolonization of Monumental Landscapes and Heritage Policies in Africa

Albino Jopela and Rim Kelouaze

 

Chapter 20: Tradition, Power and Landscape: West African Royal Palaces

Ishanlosen Odiaua and Salim Bashir

 

Chapter 21: Maritime Heritage in Eastern and Southern Africa

Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Caesr Bita and Narriman Jiddawi

 

Chapter 22: Rock Art and the African Landscape: Explorations of Paintings from Matopo Hills, Zimbabwe and Chongoni Hills, Malaŵi

Siyakha Mguni and Benjamin Smith

 

Chapter 23: Biocultural Heritage: Definitions, Applications and African Case Studies

Paul J. Lane and Benny Q. Shen

 

Part 5: Global Heritage Systems and the Management of Heritage in Africa

 

Chapter 24: Part Introduction: Global Heritage Systems and the Management of Heritage in Africa

Ashton Sinamai, Ishanlosen Odiaua, John D. Giblin and Shadreck Chirikure

 

Chapter 25: Excluding Communities, Liberation Heritage and Managing Conflict: Tracing ‘Westernised’ Heritage Practices in Southern Africa

Ndlovu Ndukuyakhe

 

Chapter 26: African Customary Law and the Impact of Non-African Cultural Heritage Legislation in Africa

Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana

 

Chapter 27: World Heritage for Sustainable Development in Africa

Sophia Labadi

 

Chapter 28: The Sustainability Question in Heritage Tourism Development in Africa

Bailey Ashton Adie, Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong, and Noel Biseko Lwoga

 

Chapter 29: African Oral Traditions as Heritage and UNESCO’s Intangible List

Herbert Chimhundu

 

Part 6: Decolonising African Heritage

 

Chapter 30: Part Introduction: Decolonising African Heritage

Shadreck Chirikure, John D. Giblin, Ishanlosen Odiaua and Ashton Sinamai

 

Chapter 31: Coloniality and Decoloniality of Heritage Institutions in West Africa

J. Kelechi Ugwuanyi

 

Chapter 32: Decolonising the Dead or Decolonising Death in Southern Africa? Some Hesitations

Joost Fontein

 

Chapter 33: Decolonising the Academy: Heritage, #RhodesMustFall and the University of Cape Town? (TBC)

Nick Shepherd

 

Chapter 34: What British Museums Mean When They Talk About Decolonising Their African Collections, And What They Don’t

Johanna Zetterström-Sharp

 

Chapter 35: How to Decolonise a Museum: Lessons from the African Continent

Annie E. Coombes

Biography

Ashton Sinamai is an archaeologist with experience from Zimbabwe, Namibia, United Kingdom and Australia. He has a PhD in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies from Deakin University and currently works as a Heritage Consultant for Ecology and Heritage Partners. Previously he has worked as an archaeologist at Great Zimbabwe, Chief Curator at the National Museum of Namibia and as lecturer at the Midlands State University, Zimbabwe.

John Daniel Giblin is Keeper of Global Arts, Cultures and Design at National Museums Scotland. He was previously Head of Africa Section at the British Museum and holds an honorary position in archaeology at University College London. His current research focuses on museum colonial histories and legacies and participatory practice in the UK and his previous research focused on critical studies of post-conflict heritage and archaeology in eastern and central Africa.

Shadreck Chirikure is Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science and Director of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art in the University of Oxford. He applies methods from the sciences to understand materials as a step towards learning about the people that produced them and to conserve heritage.

Ishanlosen Odiaua is a Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank. She holds a doctorate degree in Art history (architectural conservation) and is President of the ICOMOS Advisory Committee.

This volume is a tour de force of heritage studies from Africa. It does not shy away from tackling critical issues from difficult heritage to the legacies of colonialism in Africa. The editors and authors have traversed the continent to bring to the fore the multi-layered nature of African heritage and the complexity of managing it. The volume is a timely critique of the use of the past through time and proffers caution on the potential abuse of heritage resources in the present and future. The volume enriches current debates on Africa’s heritage as the continent grapples with its positionality in the global world order. With the current state of conflicts globally, can African heritage contribute to sustainable peace? This volume offers a ray of hope. I recommend it to all beyond students of African studies.

Alinah K. SegobyeDean of Human Sciences at the Namibia University of Science and Technology and an elected fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.

The book is a very important and welcome addition to the ever-growing literature on topical issues relating to different concerns with Africa’s diverse heritage from various perspectives. Written by leading heritage practitioners and scholars from the continent and abroad, the thirty-five chapters that make up this book cover a wide range of topics and is a must read for instructors, students as well as the lay reader. The different chapters cover a wide range of topics that include the significance attached to cultural objects, sites and monuments, museums, and museology in Africa as well as the legal frameworks for heritage management and the ongoing debates on the decolonisation agenda. This wide coverage is such that the book offers something for everyone interested in Africa’s cultural heritage, its use (and abuse), its management, its role in the present and sustainable management for future generations.

Gilbert Pwiti, Professor of Heritage Studies, School of Humanities, Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, South Africa