African Cultures, Memory and Space

African Cultures, Memory and Space
Author: Munyaradzi Mawere
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2014-07-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956792152

African Cultures, Memory and Space is an impeccable volume that powerfully grapples with a gamut of cultural heritage issues, challenges and problems from a vista of inter- and multi-disciplinary approach. The book, which is designed as a foundational text to the study of culture in ever-changing environments, makes an important argument that the dynamism of culture in highly globalised societies such as that of Zimbabwe can be studied from any perspective, but most importantly through careful examination of cultural elements such as memory, oral history and space, among others. While the book makes special reference to Zimbabwe, it profoundly and audaciously dissect and cut across different geographical and cultural spaces through its penetrating interrogation and scrutiny of different issues commonplace in many African contexts and even beyond. The book, written by scholars from different backgrounds and orientations, should appeal to scholars, researchers and students from various disciplines which include but not limited to Cultural Heritage Studies, Policy Studies, Social-Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, Development Studies and African Studies.

Zimbabwe's Cultural Heritage

Zimbabwe's Cultural Heritage
Author: Pathisa Nyathi
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN: 0797428976

Zimbabwe's Cultural Heritage won first prize in the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association Awards in 2006 for Non-fiction: Humanities and Social Sciences. It is a collection of pieces of the culture of the Ndebele, Shona, Tonga, Kalanga, Nambiya, Xhosa and Venda. The book gives the reader an insight into the world view of different peoples, through descriptions of their history and life events such as pregnancy, marriage and death. "...the most enduring book ever on Zimbabwean history. This book will help people change their attitude towards each other in Zimbabwe." - Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association Awards citation

African Museums in the Making

African Museums in the Making
Author: Munyaradzi Mawere
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-04-03
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9956792713

One of the central theoretical and practical issues in post-colonial Africa is the relevance, nature, and politics at play in the management of museum institutions on the continent. Most African museums were established during the 19th and 20th centuries as European imperialists were spreading their colonial tentacles across the continent. The attainment of political independence has done little to undo or correct the obnoxious situation. Most African countries continue to practice colonial museology despite surging scholarship and calls by some Afro-centric and critical scholars the world over to address the quandaries on the continents museum institutions. There is thus an unresolved struggle between the past and the present in the management of museums in Africa. In countries such as Zimbabwe, the struggle in museum management has been precipitated by the sharp economic downturn that has gripped the country since the turn of the millennium. In view of all these glitches, this book tackles the issue of the management of heritage in Zimbabwe. The book draws on the findings by scholars and researchers from different academic orientations and backgrounds to advance the thesis that museums and museology in Zimbabwe face problems of epic proportions that require urgent attention. It makes insightful suggestions on possible solutions to the tapestry of the inexorably enigmatic amalgam of complex problems haunting museum institutions in Zimbabwe, calling for a radical transformation of museology as a discipline in the process. This book should appeal to policy makers, scholars, researchers and students from disciplines such as museology, archaeology, social-cultural anthropology, and culture and heritage studies.

The Management Of Cultural World Heritage Sites and Development In Africa

The Management Of Cultural World Heritage Sites and Development In Africa
Author: Simon Makuvaza
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2014-03-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1493904825

Ever since the signing of the World Heritage Convention 40 years ago and ratified by 33 African countries, to date, only 43 cultural heritage sites have been successfully proclaimed as World Heritage Sites in Africa. These include archaeological and historical sites, religious monuments and cultural landscapes. This book is a re-evaluation of the nomination and management of cultural World Heritage sites in Africa from the late 1970s when the Island of Gorée of Senegal and the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ethiopia were first inscribed on the WHL until today. It considers whether a credible and well balanced WHL has been attained, especially in regards to the nomination of more sites in Africa. The book also examines the roles and contribution of various heritage organizations and African governments to the nomination and management of cultural World Heritage sites in Africa. Lastly, the volume also scrutinizes economic development, which may result from the nomination and successful management of cultural World Heritage sites in Africa.

Memory and Cultural Landscape at the Khami World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe

Memory and Cultural Landscape at the Khami World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe
Author: Ashton Sinamai
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2018-10-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351022008

This book focuses on a forgotten place—the Khami World Heritage site in Zimbabwe. It examines how professionally ascribed values and conservation priorities affect the cultural landscape when there is a disjuncture between local community and national interests, and explores the epistemic violence that often accompanied colonial heritage management and archaeology in southern Africa. The central premise is that the history of the modern Zimbabwe nation, in terms of what is officially remembered and celebrated, inevitably determines how that past is managed. It is about how places are experienced and remembered through narratives and how the loss of this heritage memory may mark the un-inheriting of place. Memory and Cultural Landscape at the Khami World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe is informed by the author’s experience of living near and working at Great Zimbabwe and Khami as an archaeologist, and uses archives and traditional narratives to build a biography for this lost cultural landscape. Whereas Great Zimbabwe is a resource for the state’s contentious narrative of unity, and a tool for cultural activism among communities whose cultural rights are denied through the nationalisation and globalisation heritage, at Khami, which has lost its historical gravity, there is only silence. Researchers and students of cultural heritage will find this book a much-needed case study on heritage, identity, community and landscape from an African perspective.

The Zimbabwe Culture

The Zimbabwe Culture
Author: Innocent Pikirayi
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780759100916

Since the monumental architecture of the Zimbabwe Plateau first became known to Westerners in the 16th century, speculation about the people that created it has been continuous and inventive. Tales of strongholds in the interior were taken home by the first Portuguese chroniclers of the Swahili coast, and their narratives became part of the geographic lore of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the mid-19th century, the lore was spun into fantastic and mysterious yarns about long-lost riches that lured adventurers and traders. Pikirayi (history, U. of Zimbabwe) aims to set the record straight by examining the growth of precolonial states on the plateau and adjacent regions, with a focus on the their historical and cultural development during the second millennium AD. c. Book News Inc.

Cultural Landscape Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cultural Landscape Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: John Beardsley
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Archaeology
ISBN: 9780884024101

Cultural Landscape Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa studies landscape spaces created by and for Africans themselves, from the precolonial era to the present. Contributors explore how these landscapes were understood in the colonial era and how they are being recuperated today for nation building, identity formation, and cultural affirmation.

A History of African Popular Culture

A History of African Popular Culture
Author: Karin Barber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2018-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107016894

A journey through the history of African popular culture from the seventeenth century to the present day.

A History of Zimbabwe

A History of Zimbabwe
Author: Alois S. Mlambo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2014-04-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139867520

The first single-volume history of Zimbabwe with detailed coverage from pre-colonial times to the present, this book examines Zimbabwe's pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial social, economic and political history and relates historical factors and trends to recent developments in the country. Zimbabwe is a country with a rich history, dating from the early San hunter-gatherer societies. The arrival of British imperial rule in 1890 impacted the country tremendously, as the European rulers exploited Zimbabwe's resources, giving rise to a movement of African nationalism and demands for independence. This culminated in the armed conflict of the 1960s and 1970s and independence in 1980. The 1990s were marked by economic decline and the rise of opposition politics. In 1999, Mugabe embarked on a violent land reform program that plunged the nation's economy into a downward spiral, with political violence and human rights violations making Zimbabwe an international pariah state. This book will be useful to those studying Zimbabwean history and those unfamiliar with the country's past.