Possibilities for a postcolonial archaeology in sub-Saharan Africa: indigenous and usable pasts

Abstract

It has long been recognized that archaeology in sub-Saharan Africa, and its public manifestation through the medium of museums, emerged within the context of European colonial rule, and that legacies of colonialism continue to shape archaeological practice across the continent. Following independence there has been steady indigenization, initially in terms of personnel but subsequently also in terms of organizational structure and research agendas. Recent calls for a ‘post-colonial archaeology’ liberated from the constraints imposed by ‘the colonial archive’, have highlighted many of the challenges that remain. Nevertheless, indigenization has also resulted in the production of more nationalistic and/or Afrocentric perspectives. These echo some of the sentiments voiced by the first generation of African political leaders regarding the need to recover a truly ‘African past’, which have also been revived in more recent calls for an African Renaissance as articulated by NEPAD, among others. This paper explores these developments so as to highlight some of the inconsistencies and inherent contradictions of current conceptualizations of postcolonial archaeology in sub-Saharan African contexts.

Keywords:

• Sub-Saharan Africa
• postcolonial archaeology
• indigenous archaeology
• usable pasts
• material memory.

Acknowledgements

Previous drafts of this paper were presented at an invited Presidential session ‘Anthropology's Post-National Spaces’, organized by Monica Heller at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, December 2009, and as a public lecture at the Center for African Studies, University of Florida, in January 2010 at the invitation of Peter Schmidt. I am grateful to both for extending invitations to me, for their comments and those of other participants at each gathering, and to Peter for his generous hospitality while visiting Gainesville. I would also like to thank the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the Center for African Studies, University of Florida, for financial support towards attending these meetings. Thanks are also due to the following for comments on previous drafts: Daryl Stump, Kevin Walsh, Lynn Meskell, Laurajane Smith, Peter van Dommelen, Joost Fontein and two anonymous referees. They are in no way responsible for any of the errors.

Notes

1 See also: http://www.asapa.org.za/index.php/archeaology/importance_of_archaeology_in_the_southern_african_region/, consulted 22/11/2009.

2 Available at: http://www.nepad.org/home/lang/en

3 This seems akin to what British research councils now refer to as ‘impact’.

4 See also: http://www.info.gov.za/speech/DynamicAction?pageid=461&sid=13380&tid=20715 (accessed 21 October 2010).

5 See http://www.fao.org/nr/giahs/en/