Launch of "The Politics of Heritage in Africa"

The Politics of Heritage in Africa: Economies, Histories and Infrastructures, edited by Derek Peterson from the University of Michigan, Kodzo Gavua from the University of Ghana and the University of the Western Cape’s Ciraj Rassool, was launched with much fanfare on 6 May 2015 at Clarke’s Bookshop. The launch was followed by a seminar at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape on 7 May. APC senior researcher Mbongiseni Buthelezi lined up at both events in front of packed houses alongside Rassool and Gavua, as well as Leslie Witz at the CHR seminar, to talk about the book and the politics of heritage in our present moment in South Africa.

The book is the product of a long collaboration between scholars in the United States, Ghana and South Africa funded by the office of the President of the University of Michigan. Conferences and meetings have been held in Johannesburg, Accra and Ann Arbor over the past few years and the collaboration continues. Buthelezi joined the international steering committee of the project in December 2013.

The book includes contributions by several authors associated with APC: Daniel Herwitz contributed "Heritage and Legacy in the South African State and University", Mbongiseni Buthelezi wrote "Heritage vs. heritage: Reaching for Pre-Zulu Identities in KwaZulu-Natal", Litheko Modisane has a chapter with the title "Flashes of Modernity: Heritage According to Cinema", and Carolyn Hamilton contributed the conclusion to the book.

The Rhodes Must Fall Movement, the outburst of xenophobic violence following Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini’s statements and the accountability of customary leaders, as well as the ongoing skewed relationships between the North and the South in international  collaborations were the main topics of discussion at both events. The book is timely, bringing together insights from Ghana, the first African country to gain independence from Britain in 1957, with those from South Africa, the last country to be liberated in 1994. 

Gavua pointed out how under independent Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, chiefs were sidelined in favour of developing a unitary Ghanaian national identity. As contributions in the book make clear, it is only in the last decade or so that under the banner of heritage chiefs are taking a stand. In contrast the South African experience has been that arguments for chiefship to be accorded a place in governance were part of negotiations to end apartheid. The 1996 constitution recognises the institution of chiefship, although it does not give chiefs a role in governance. 

In another development according to Gavua, since the 1980s Ghana has seen the rise of slave heritage that is seen as a potential revenue generator. It was promoted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as part of structural adjustment programmes to boost the Ghanaian economy, encouraging especially African Americans to reconnect with their slave pasts in West Africa. 

While there is a boom in this kind of heritage practice, heritage planning remains poor in the country. Property developers and mining companies simply bulldoze important archaeological sites and take what heritage resources they find out of the country without any checks. Nevertheless, programmes like the UWC-Robben Island Museum African Programme in Museum and Heritage Studies offer critical skills to practitioners from across the continent that may stem the tide.