Africa is richly blessed with cultural and natural heritage, key
resources for nation building and development. Unfortunately, heritage
is not being systematically researched or recognised, denying Africans
the chance to learn about and benefit from heritage initiatives. This
book offers a preliminary discussion of factors challenging the
management of intangible cultural heritage in the African communities of
Zanzibar, Mauritius and Seychelles. These islands are part of an
overlapping cultural and economic zone influenced by a long history of
slavery and colonial rule, a situation that has produced inequalities
and underdevelopment. In all of them, heritage management is seriously
underfinanced and under-resourced. African descendant heritage is given
little attention and this continues to erode identity and sense of
belonging to the nation. In Zanzibar tensions between majority and
minority political parties affect heritage initiatives on the island. In
Mauritius, the need to diversify the economy and tourism sector is
encouraging the commercialisation of heritage and the homogenisation of
Creole identity. In Seychelles, the legacy of socialist rule affects the
conceptualisation and management of heritage, discouraging managers from
exploring the island's widerange of intangible heritages. The author
concludes that more funding and attention needs to be given to heritage
management in Africa and its diaspora. Rosabelle Boswell is a senior
lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Rhodes University, South
Africa and a specialist of the southwest Indian Ocean islands. Her
research interests include ethnicity, heritage, gender and development.
Boswell's PhD was on poverty and identity among Creoles in Mauritius and
her most recent work is onthe role of scent and fragrances in the
heritage of the Swahili islands of the Indian Ocean region.
