Social, cultural anthropology The Politics of Heritage in Africa Economies, Histories, and Infrastructures Edited by Derek R. Peterson University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Kodzo Gavua University of Ghana
and Ciraj Rassool University of the Western Cape, South Africa
This book draws together studies from history, archaeology, linguistics, the performing arts and cinema to show how the lifeways of the past were made into a store of authentic knowledge that political and cultural entrepreneurs could draw from – showing African heritage to be a mode of political organisation. ‘Precisely on the basis of the great variety of case studies presented, the volume attests to the complexity of any form of heritage politics. The ways in which such politics articulate the past with often direct present-day concerns goes well beyond the ‘mere’ problematic of the colonial archive. Yet even more, heritage politics is situated at the crossroads of fierce identity politics, nation-building, and commercialisation, and it speaks to memories of suffering and struggle often in terms that seem wanting to those who have lived through them. The present collection provides thought-provoking and fascinating perspectives that advance these concerns.’ Reinhart Kößler, Africa Spectrum
11
Slavery, Memory and Religion in Southeastern Ghana, c. 1850–Present Meera Venkatachalam
Slavery, Memory and Religion in Southeastern Ghana, c.1850–Present aims to reconstruct the religious history of the Anlo-Ewe peoples from the 1850s. In particular, it focuses on a corpus of cultic practices collectively known as ‘Fofie’, which derived their legitimacy from engaging with the memory of the slave-holding past. ‘Engaging, logically structured and based on impressive ethnography, this [book] makes an important contribution to the existing scholarly literature on the religion and belief of the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo and more broadly to an emerging history of religious change in West Africa that seeks to go beyond the established narrative of conversion.’ John Parker, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London The International African Library, 49
2015 228 x 152 mm 270pp 16 b/w illus. 4 maps 978-1-107-10827-1 Hardback £64.99 / US$99.99 For all formats available, see
www.cambridge.org/9781107108271
The International African Library, 48
2015 228 x 152 mm 311pp 18 b/w illus. 3 maps 978-1-107-09485-7 Hardback £65.00 / US$99.00 For all formats available, see
www.cambridge.org/9781107094857
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