Post-Colonial Archaeology in East Africa

Abstract

In Africa, as in many former colonies, European colonisers whose legacy continues to shape archaeological practice across the continent introduced archaeological study. This is so because to a large extent, despite political independence, archaeological practice is still premised on western thought. The legal framework used by most African countries is still that inherited from the colonial past or where it has been repealed, the changes are minimal. In recent decades, however, there has emerged within archaeology, a critique of the way archaeology has been done, in these former colonies. This critique has been referred to as Postcolonial Archaeology. In the recent past, African and Africanist archaeologists have started to employ these postcolonial theories in trying to decolonise archaeological practices in the continent. These scholars are questioning the way archaeologists in Africa are conducting field research and how archaeology is being used to disprove essentialised histories-the colonial metanarratives. As a result of this, these scholars have in some cases, been accused of following their political leaders and thus have produced a nationalistic and/or Afrocentric archaeological perspective devoid of theory and method. This chapter critically looks at postcolonial archaeology in Eastern Africa to understand its method and practice.