A CRITIQUE OF THE HERTIAGE SECTOR IN POSTCOLONIAL AFRICA
Abstract
In the humanities it is already a cliché to speak of heritage as of of the highly contested terrains. It is one of the areas which is involved in the politics of the past, such that controversies are framed through such questions as ‘whose past?, and which past? The complexities surrounding the word ‘heritage’ must have arisen from the recent curiosity of humans ton question what was previously presented as “reality and claims for the possibilities of objectives truth about the world and humans’ place withinâ€. This has generated opposing concepts to the idea of heritage: Is it ‘that which we inherit?†or “is it resources; both national and people’s resources†or is it “that which we inherit?†or “Is it resources; both national and people’s resources†or is it something that is shaped (or you may say constructed) according to changing attitudes and demands. This paper is an attempt, therefore to present a point of view which places heritage on the part of construction and production. It does this by evaluating various paradigms of heritage production in national states, the natural environment, living tradition and museum exhibitions.
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