Development of Cultural Heritage Registration in Post-Colonial Tanzania
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Although Tanzania is endowed with a significant amount of nationally and internationally
renowned cultural heritage resources that span about 3.6 million years to the present, very
few of them feature in the national heritage register. The government has only proclaimed
and registered fifty-five heritage assets deemed to be of national significance since
independence, almost six decades ago. Most of the registered heritage resources are built
heritage with colonial ties, at the expense of traditional African ones. Spatially, heritage
properties in regions along the Indian Ocean coast dominate the proclaimed heritage
properties. This paper investigates the reasons for these trends, by tracing the roots of the
heritage registration system in the country to the colonial period and by uncovering the
shortcomings in the creation and maintenance of the heritage register, and proposes
solutions and strategies for addressing the challenges. The paper cites examples from
African countries and beyond to illustrate how comprehensive heritage registers are created and maintained
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Keywords
Register, heritage registration, Antiquities Department, Tanzania