Overview

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Djenné, in modern day Mali, is exalted as an enduring wonder of the ancient African world by archaeologists, anthropologists, state officials, architects and travel writers. In this revealing study, the author critically examines how the politics of heritage management, conservation, and authenticity play essential roles in the construction of Djenné’s past and its appropriation for contemporary purposes. Despite its great renown, the majority of local residents remain desperately poor. And while most are proud of their cultural heritage, they are often troubled by the limitations it places on their day to day living conditions. Joy argues for a more critical understanding of this paradox and urges us all to reconsider the moral and philosophical questions surrounding the ways in which we use the past in the present.

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9781611320954

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Charlotte Joy holds a PhD in Anthropology from University College London. She is completing an ESRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship in Anthropology at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, specialising in developing a comparative ethnographic approach to the study of cultural heritage politics and its relation to development issues. Beverley Butler Co-ordinates an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies and lectures in Cultural Heritage Studies, Museum History and Theory, and Cultural Memory at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Her interests are in alternative theorisations and re-conceptualisation of cultural heritage studies, museum historiography and museological theory; the application of intellectual history, philosophy, psychoanalysis, literary theory, postcolonial theory, deconstruction and memory-studies to cultural heritage/ museum studies. Her specialist focus is upon North Africa and Eastern Mediterranean and upon Alexandrian/Egyptian and Palestinian cultural heritage and cultural politics.

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