Linking Centralised Politics to Custodianship of Cultural Heritage in Ethiopia: Examples of National-Level Museums in Addis Ababa

Abstract

Ethiopia has a history of complex cultural dynamics, which have been reflected in and manipulated according to the political motivations of successive governments. In particular, historical biases in cultural policy and practices can be strongly linked to governmental support of cultural programming initiatives such as the types of culture centres that were developed for particular segments of the public. Archival sources – beginning with the rule of Haile Selassie, as well as in more recent studies of heritage management in the country – give a detailed chronology of government-sanctioned developments in Ethiopia's culture sector in the last century, which have influenced both the institutional presentation of heritage objects, and public access to those objects. For this article, archival and contemporary sources related to Ethiopia's cultural policy were central to a review of the successes and constraints of two federally-funded museums in Addis Ababa.