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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Writing Africa's Archaeological Past: Who Writes for Whom?
Author:Connah, GrahamISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:Australasian Review of African Studies
Volume:23
Issue:1
Period:June
Pages:32-37
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:African studies
archaeology
Anthropology and Archaeology
History and Exploration
Abstract:Archaeological research in Africa has been going on since 1858-1859, but it made only slow and very patchy progress during the colonial period. Although there was a considerable growth in archaeological research activity after World War II, it was not until the achievement of independence that African archaeology began to receive serious attention. New African governments recognized the sociopolitical importance of their more recent past and the African archaeological profession began to include people of African as well as European descent. Since those days there has been an explosion of archaeological research in Africa and also an explosion of archaeological publication. However, archaeologists have usually written for other archaeologists or specialists in related fields. They have generally tended to avoid 'popularization' and are therefore failing the public, especially the African public, who in many cases have no idea of the rich cultural heritage that archaeology is steadily revealing. The author argues that archaeologists need to write for people in general rather than only for other archaeologists, and in a range of languages, including African languages. Ref.
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