Symbolically Inscribing the City: Public Monuments in Mali, 1995-2002

Arnoldi, Mary Jo

doi:10.1162/afar.2003.36.2.56

Cited by 29 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…In neighbouring Zimbabwe, independence was followed by the removal of the statues of colonial authorities such as Cecil John Rhodes, Alfred Beit and many others, since they were seen as offensive to Africans (Samwanda, 2013). Similar observations have been made about colonial statues and monuments in West Africa, most notably, in Mali (Arnoldi, 1999, 2003, 2007). Given this trend, South Africa with a similar colonial history cannot be an exception.…”

Section: The Changing Nature Of Statues and Monuments In Tshwanesupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Preservation of the memories of heroes and heroines through statues and monuments was and still is not unique to South Africa and Pretoria. Statues and monuments of this nature were common across Africa during the colonial and apartheid era (Arnoldi, 1999(Arnoldi, , 2003(Arnoldi, , 2007Coombes, 2003;Larsen, 2013). As Larsen has noted in the case of Kenya, they were used as cultural tools in the project of colonialism until the achievement of independence in the 1960s (Larsen, 2013).…”

Section: Colonial and Apartheid Statues And Monuments In Pretoria (Tsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

Fubah

2018

Ethnography

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This paper examines the changing nature of statues and monuments in post-apartheid South Africa with special focus on newly constructed statues and monuments at the Groenkloof Nature Reserve (GNR) in Tshwane. The paper highlights the extraordinary fascination of the African National Congress (ANC) government with statues and monuments in honour of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid icons. It demonstrates that by embarking on the construction of statues and monuments in honour of struggle icons, these icons have become the embodiment of a new iconography for South Africa. More importantly, the paper will demonstrate how the newly constructed statues, though still in line with the pre-1994 iconography, are also disruptive of the country’s cultural landscape, much to the advantage of the government.

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Section: The Changing Nature Of Statues and Monuments In Tshwanesupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Colonial and Apartheid Statues And Monuments In Pretoria (Tsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

Fubah

2018

Ethnography

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“…In fact it seems as though sometimes assumptions have been made that these universal heritage values will have local meanings or that sensitisation programmes would be enough to instil them." (Rowlands 2007: 2) No comparative research supports the argument for an absence, in Djenne, of an implicit link between identity and cultural heritage: not only has this author not carried out a specific anthropological investigation of this question in Djenné but his assertions in De Jong, Rowlands 2007) overlook, for example, the parallel which might be drawn between the interest in heritage that appeared in France following the industrial revolution (Silverman 2012) and that which emerged when Mali was faced with globalisation during the 1990s (Arnoldi 2003, Traore 1997, Traore 2012. Furthermore, as evidenced by the European experience, this linkage develops very slowly and progressively (Choay 1999).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 70%

Protecting architectural heritage in Djenné: a civil society point of view

Brunet-Jailly¹,

Scherrer

2018

Journal of African Cultural Heritage Studies

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The "Old Towns of Djenné" were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. However, in 2016, this urban landscape was included in the List of World Heritage in Danger. The paper aims to examine the neglect that led to this listing by identifying the actors involved in the protection of the town's unique architecture, describing their constraints and interventions, and demonstrating their persistent inability to define a common strategy. We show how most international and national interventions in the past two decades have ignored the restrictions and commitments imposed by the World Heritage status of the town. A striking feature is the lack of awareness and the progressive loss of knowledge, among decision-makers at local and national level, as well as among external aid funding managers, of the value of the cultural heritage that Djenné architecture represents; and among the professionals (Malian architects and local masons), of the technical know-how needed to maintain this architecture. The paper addresses the need for concerted efforts to educate and sensitize various actors in the conservation of Djenne's architecture to enable them to contribute effectively to political and technical decisions regarding the protection of this heritage.

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“…Post-independence African regimes have sought to capitalize on the lasting political efficacy of erecting new memorials commemorating precolonial leaders, nationalist heroes and allegorical figures. But, as scholars have shown, these honorary monuments often efface the regional, political and ethnic differences that threaten to rupture the notion of a homogeneous, unified nation state (Arnoldi 2003; 2007; Becker 2011; Chirambo 2010). In Madagascar, state-sponsored actors have also transformed certain anti-colonial activists and events into national heroes, positioned to stand as icons of national identity (Tronchon 1986).…”

Section: Detritus and Deletions: Imaginings Of Post-independence Mahamentioning

confidence: 99%

Neglect as effacement: the multiple lives of the Jardin Ralaimongo, Mahajanga, Madagascar

Rijke-Epstein¹

2018

Africa

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By considering the lifespan of a garden, this article investigates the myriad spatial practices of forgetting and remembering the colonial and postcolonial pasts that people apply to their urban surroundings in Mahajanga, Madagascar. In the heart of an ancient residential and commercial neighbourhood in this multi-ethnic Indian Ocean port city sits the Jardin Ralaimongo. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research, I explore the trajectory of the garden to elucidate the ways in which different socio-political groups have drawn on this site to negotiate differences, frame collective memories, and stake their claims to the urban landscape. I show how, as city inhabitants have reworked the spaces of the garden, so too has the park itself – its layout, material artefacts and location within the city – constrained the possibilities of what can be remembered and silenced, and who can be bound to one another, in contemporary times. Over its hundred-year history, this site has been founded, forgotten and reincarnated as a memorial to a succession of revered leaders, thus serving as a kind of spatial register of the historical socio-political changes that have given rise to the city. This article suggests that the deterioration of colonial-era architectural forms through long-standing neglect and abandonment may be understood as an active spatial practice of effacing some dimensions of the past, while the subsequent recuperation of deserted public spaces by certain groups is an effort to position themselves as legitimate residents and express their attachment to the city.

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Symbolically Inscribing the City: Public Monuments in Mali, 1995-2002

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

Protecting architectural heritage in Djenné: a civil society point of view

Neglect as effacement: the multiple lives of the Jardin Ralaimongo, Mahajanga, Madagascar

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