Routledge Handbook of Critical African Heritage Studies

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 beyond the physical and objective to include subjective narratives, performances, rituals, memories and emotions
• examine the pre-coloniality, coloniality, post-coloniality, and decoloniality of current African heritage discourses and their consequences
• analyse how heritage legislation derived from colonial law is compatible or otherwise with how heritage is perceived, identified and remembered in African communities
• discuss questions of repatriation, restitution and reparations in relation to the return of artefacts from Western countries
• illuminate the importance of ‘difficult heritage’ within Africa and its diaspora
• consider the role of heritage for development in Africa

Making a crucial contribution to our understanding of African conceptions and practices of heritage, this book is an important read for scholars of African Studies, heritage and museum studies, archaeology, anthropology and history.

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.