Mid-20th century colonialism in Nigeria: Exploring the Impact of Archaeology and Museums during the final years of the British Empire in West Africa

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1953, three colonial archaeologists would perform extensive fieldwork in the sacred city of Ile-Ife, Nigeria. In cooperation with the Ooni (King) of the city, the researchers embarked on a mission to acquire and understand the resplendent artworks of Ile-Ife, revive and reinvent aspects of the city's cultural heritage, and develop a new museum to centralise the discoveries being made there. This post-war era of museum building and heritage revitalization led by white archaeologists has previously been understood in relation to the growing influence of decolonisation in West Africa. However, drawing on contemporary diaries deriving from this field season in 1953, this talk will explore the ways that these efforts in fact strengthened some of the British colonial and neo-colonial agendas of this period. It will also reconstruct the range of local African responses to these archaeological activities including efforts to resist and/or manipulate and control these foreign scholars' actions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2020 SHA General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 953