How Do African States Think about Cultural Property? Re-Visiting Management Elites in Southern Africa

Abstract

Abstract:This article addresses a methodological lacuna in studies of African cultural property: states are rarely subjected to the same detailed ethnographic enquiry as communities local to heritage sites. I argue that this is the result of historical circumstances and disciplinary trends treating states as nebulous “up there” entities distinct from the grassroots—and, thus, subject to different modes of enquiry. I demonstrate a corrective approach through a historical ethnographic examination of the government of Lesotho’s archives, examining a period from 1991 to 1993 that saw early efforts to create a national monument at Thaba Bosiu. This detailed view reveals habits of thinking about heritage among bureaucrat-intellectuals, administrators, and international consultants. It offers new insights into how state actors articulated visions for new industries, public participation, and spirituality in public life as well as how to demonstrate incapacity to secure future development funds.

How Do African States Think about Cultural Property? Re-Visiting Management Elites in Southern Africa

“…This is significant given Lesotho's long history of transnationalism, represented by both migrant labor and pan-Africanist thought that circulated via relatively porous borders. 50 In his proposal of the amalgam as a conceptual framework, Motaung's vision walked a line between nationalism and humanism, inflected by an awareness of Lesotho's political and economic climate. Amidst the rule of a Military Council suspected of murdering its critics and precipitating widespread violence and economic disenfranchisement, his policy suggestions included supporting laws ensuring greater freedoms of speech and civil liberties.…”

“…Concerns that heritage related to larger sociopolitical issues were further reflected in a 1991 proposal to UNESCO's newly launched Participation Programme aimed at providing emergency assistance to member states and non-governmental organizations. 54 The proposal, 55 drawn up by the Culture Committee of the Lesotho National Commission for UNESCO (of which Motaung, Khit'sane, and Damane were members), requested an international safeguarding campaign for the heritage of living culture in Lesotho, which would consist of "conscientization seminars" and an "aggressive cultural awareness campaign." 56 The campaign aimed to combat the lingering influences of colonialism and new "foreign commerce," which had been corroding cultural values, desensitizing people to local problems like soil erosion and unemployment.…”

“…In a margin note, Maphasa refers to "the so-called" museum. 69 This disagreement over the cultural village speaks to a question hanging over the Thaba Bosiu Project: how to reconcile the spiritual significance of the mountaina significance derived from its historical import and its embeddedness in wider ancestral practices-with the drive to stimulate a tourism economy based on bundling culture within a larger package of resort-style offerings. Few precedents for this existed in southern Africa, where safari parks, casino-hotels, and heavily commodified African theme parks dominated the tourism market.…”