The Politics of Archaeology in Africa

Abstract

knowledge s Abstract "Africa is various," writes Kwame Anthony Appiah in defiance of the Eurocentric myth of a unitary and unchanging continent. The politics of archaeology in Africa has been no less marked by variety. Yet, underlying this multiplicity of historical experience are a number of common themes and ideas. This review traces the engagement between archaeology and politics in Africa through an exploration of these common themes: first, as a colonial science in the context of European conquest and the subjugation of African people and territories; second, in the context of colonial administration and the growth of settler populations; third, in the context of resistance to colonialism and a developing African nationalism; and fourth, in a postcolonial context, among whose challenges have been the growing illicit trade in antiquities originating in Africa, and (in the past two decades) the decline in direct funding for departments of archaeology in universities and museums.

An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

“…This was motivated by a concern on the part of Western scholars and collectors to 'rescue' what were perceived to be primitive cultures throughout the non-Western world. The looting of a great deal of objects from various colonies is a case in point (Shepherd 2002). In this way, huge museum collections were established in most of the capitals of Europe.…”

Re-constructing the past in post-genocide Rwanda: an archaeological contribution

“…Trigger 1989: 197-201;Preucel 1995;Hall 1984;Shepherd 2002;Ranger 2004;Fontein 2006). The case demonstrates the complex and unavoidable relationship between archaeology and politics and suggests that whilst archaeology may inform politics, it is often external political pressures that change the role and impact of archaeology.…”

“…Ucko 1990). Today the actions of the organisers are seen as a principled and exonerated stand but at the time it was a complex and divisive issue (Shepherd 2002). For example, the "disinvitation" prevented many archaeologists from attending who were actually challenging the apartheid regime from within South Africa.…”

The Nineteenth-Century Colonial Archaeology of Suakin, Sudan

“…The work of Hall (1988Hall ( , 1993Hall ( , 2001 and Shepherd (2002Shepherd ( , 2007 at the University of Cape Town has, and still is, working to develop studies into the relations of power between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. In East and West Africa, written materials and indigenous/folk histories are being addressed archaeologically, as well as issues of contact between indigenous and nonindigenous (see Reid and Lane 2004).…”