The Neoliberalisation of Heritage in Africa

This Element illuminates the legacies of neoliberal development, finance, and governance in how heritage is used in African contexts.

Rachel King (Author)

9781009548250, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 January 2025

78 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.6 cm, 0.249 kg

The landscape of heritage on the African continent is the product of neoliberal economic and social interventions from the 1980s–2000s: the prevalence and influence of heritage NGOs; aid for cultural programmes contingent on government reforms; the use of national heritage policies and projects to signal ready capital; experiments in custodianship and private enterprise that balance conservation with consumerism; and so on. This Element synthesises literature from anthropology, archaeology, history, and geography to describe a significant period of heritage policy and discourse on the African continent – its historical situation, on-the-ground realities, and continuing legacies in the era of sustainable development and climate crises.

1. The Heritage of Neoliberal Development
2. Heritage Governance in a Neoliberal World
3. Capitalising on Heritage
4. Infrastructure and the Business of Preservation by Record
5. Neoliberal Legacies.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD]