Emerging from a seminar at the University of Florida in 2015, this edited volume joins important conversations about decolonizing archaeological practice with a diverse set of African case studies. An introductory chapter by Pikirayi and Schmidt first addresses the persistence of a colonial “top-down” paradigm wherein scholars and state-level actors dictate the terms of research questions, methods, and outcomes. In contrast, they advocate “bottom-up” approaches to community archaeology involving (a) the recognition of indigenous methodologies for interpreting and valorizing heritage, and (b) the development of equitable partnerships between professional archaeologists and interested communities. These two themes are then a common point of departure for 10 chapters reflecting on the circumstances, strategies, and challenges of implementing community archaeology across Africa.
Appeals to multiple methodologies are important in Africa where community perspectives on landscape and history inform the negotiation of the past in the present, quite often challenging the primacy of material data. All the chapters explore intersections between indigenous knowledge and archaeological practice in one way or another, but Pikirayi (chapter 6) clearly shows how the active participation of local communities has positively enabled the repatriation of human remains and the documentation and interpretation of historic sites and ethnographic potting on the Zimbabwe plateau. Along these lines, G. Abungu (chapter 3) and P. O. Abungu (chapter 5) discuss how local and national identity politics play into diverse narratives surrounding Fort Jesus and the Shimoni Caves in Kenya, as well as the potentials and the challenges of representing these multiple histories to site visitors. Aleru and Adekola (chapter 9) explain how heritage initiatives by Igbomina communities in Nigeria have used oral traditions to guide research on soapstone figurines and historic sites, thus ensuring a local stake in (and potential conflicts over) the methods and results of these archaeological inquiries. Meanwhile, Schmidt (chapter 4) notes that people in northwest Tanzania have their own ways of resolving debates about the authenticity of reconstructed shrines and the conservation of royal regalia, some of which invite his archaeological expertise. In these and other chapters, a strong focus on strategies for decolonizing practice does, however, come at the expense of more in-depth discussion about the specific knowledge of history emerging in each case through collaboration between professional archaeologists and indigenous communities.
Beyond the integration of diverse methodologies into archaeology-as-practice, the chapters in this volume usefully map ways of developing equitable partnerships around heritage-as-resource for spiritual well-being, political claims-making, and economic development. Mehari and Ryano (chapter 2) find that partnerships need not be limited to descendant communities insofar as the Maasai of Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania desire a greater role in the production and dissemination of knowledge about the hominin fossils found in this region. Such partnerships begin with dialogue to define heritage resources and community stakeholders in local contexts, as opposed to academic ones. According to Ndlovu (chapter 7), lip-service to community archaeology without such dialogue can be instructive—two South African rock art centers developed in this way have failed to attract either local investment or tourism revenues. Apoh and Gavua (chapter 10) evaluate their complicated role as partners mediating between the Bui Dam project in Ghana and a populace concerned about protecting their ancestral tombs and shrines. Similarly, David and Sterner (chapter 11) ask how their research in northern Nigeria and Cameroon may have benefited highland communities through partnerships arising organically through the production of a documentary film and the pursuit of UNESCO world heritage status for parts of this region. Mayor and Huysecom (chapter 8) present an innovative way to valorize heritage in the Dogon Country of Mali by partnering financial institutions and local villagers through cultural banks offering micro-loans for the temporary conservation and display of significant material objects. Although the editors worry about the seemingly low impact of previous volumes on postcolonial archaeology in Africa, these case studies emphasize that the trust needed for equitable partnerships often develops slowly over years or decades—they may already be inspiring a new generation of scholars to pursue the long-term course of community archaeology in Africa.
A concluding chapter by non-Africanist scholars McDavid, Rizvi, and Smith moves to situate these themes in broader conversations about the distinction between public and community archaeologies, the relations between archaeology and heritage, and the interplay between politics and ethics. Avoiding the temptation to lay out a set of best practices, the volume seeks, more profoundly, to encourage cooperation, collaboration, innovation, and self-reflection in the practice of archaeology on and beyond the African continent.
