This handbook is a foundational reference point for critical heritage research about Africa and its diaspora.

Foregrounding the diversity of knowledge systems needed to examine heritage issues in such a diverse continent, the contributors to this volume:

Argue for an understanding heritage that is at once both natural and cultural, tangible and intangible, political and dissonant, going beyond the physical and objective to include subjective narratives, performances, rituals, memories and emotions

Examine the pre-coloniality, coloniality, post-coloniality, and decoloniality of current African heritage discourses and their consequences

Analyse how heritage legislation derived from colonial law is compatible or otherwise with how heritage is perceived, identified and remembered in African communities

Discuss questions of repatriation, restitution and reparations in relation to the return of artefacts from Western countries

Illuminate the importance of ‘difficult heritage’ within Africa and its diaspora

Consider the role of heritage for development in Africa

Making a crucial contribution to our understanding of African conceptions and practices of heritage, this book is an important read for scholars of African Studies, heritage and museum studies, archaeology, anthropology and history.