Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies

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    Archaeology and world heritage sites in west africa
    (2019-07-09) Apoh, W.
    The need to integrate world heritage curriculum in the academic programmes of African educational institutions has become the clarion call of UNESCO and the African World Heritage Fund to African institutions. According to UNESCO, Africa boasts of a heritage of unrivalled natural and cultural diversity that constitutes the very essence of its identity. Yet, sub-Saharan Africa is underrepresented on the World Heritage List. With 93 properties (51 cultural sites, 37 natural sites, 8 mixed sites), Africa is the most under-represented region on the List. Despite the adoption of the Global Strategy for a representative balanced and credible World Heritage List, the continent hosts only 9 per cent of all World Heritage sites, while the European and North American Regions account for 47 per cent of properties inscribed on the List. Thus, the call for African educational institutions to implement the World Heritage Convention is an undeniable expectation that we must champion; as a credible regional body in Africa. This conference among other things offers the platform for us to brainstorm and dialogue on how to facilitate our contributions to the existing curricula related to research, conservation and management of world heritage sites in West Africa.The low inscription rate has been adduced to factors such as; i) the poor quality of the nomination dossiers, which often results from the lack of close collaboration between academic institutions, specialized institutions in World Heritage and the governments of African member states; ii) the limited budget allocated to the national heritage sector in many African countries; especially concerning the process of archaeological research and inscription on the Tentative and World Heritage Lists; iii) the limited number of experts specialized in the field of heritage management and conservation of Africa’s heritage as well as insufficient academic guidance and lack of sufficient integration of world heritage studies into the existing programmes of academic institutions in Africa. How do we convince government institutions to support academic institutions in the creation or strengthening of curricula oriented towards increasing heritage professionals and with a view to expanding job prospects and supporting Africans in taking ownership oftheir unique heritage? It is in this context that this conference would like to complement the efforts of our international partners. The sessions and papers cover, but not limited to, issues and case studies on the role of archaeology in world heritage research, documentation and inventory of sites, site management and conservation practices, the preparation of tentative lists and nomination files, innovation and job creation with archaeotourism and heritage resources as well as the creation of homegrown academic theories and practices to enhance this discourse.