Kaleidoscopio’s archaeologist Albino Jopela and Per Ditlef Fredriksen from the University of Oslo in Norway, have recently published an article on archaeologists’ engagement with local conceptions of place. Drawing on the case of Mozambique the archaeologists suggest that ‘a truly engaged archaeology’ ought to be open to plural epistemologies and explore the potential of the intersections between concepts of professional practitioners and those of the communities they engage with. The example of the Vumba Cultural Landscape in Mozambique is used to show that professionals cannot overlook the fact that many rural communities in this part of Africa do their version of ‘archaeology’ by reconstructing the past via their ancestors. The epistemic and ethical outlook presented by the authors may potentially aid in providing a first step for archaeologists and heritage practitioners to fully recognize the different values, interests and concerns of various stakeholders, thereby allowing the whole society to assume important roles and responsibilities in the interpretation and preservation of ‘the past’. To read the full article click here.
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