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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9781611320947

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How does an urban population of poor African Muslims best confront narratives imposed from the outside about their cityscape in order to improve their lives? This case study reveals the contradictions between Eurocentric notions of preservation and survival for people whose poverty has reduced many of them to one meal a day. Joy ties together history and life in a heritage site, home to living populations, whose rights to self-determination have taken a back seat to the universal value of the buildings in which they live. --Current Anthropology

Author Information

Charlotte L. Joy holds a PhD in Anthropology from University College London. She is completing a ESRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship in Archaeology and Anthropology, specializing in developing a comparative ethnographic approach to the study of cultural heritage politics and its relation to development issues.

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