La riscoperta del patrimonio culturale nell'Uganda contemporanea,

Abstract

In Uganda two different conceptions of heritage coexist. The central Government works for the safeguard of cultural properties and sites of historical interest through the Department for Museum and Monuments, which runs the national museum (founded at the beginning of last Century by the Colonial administration) and the most important archaeological sites. The museum exhibition and the organization of the archaeological sites follow a typical Western concept of heritage, which was never completely assimilated in Africa. On the contrary, other forms of heritage exist since the pre-colonial period: ritual practices devoted to the spirits of deceased kings and cultural heroes take place on spots located in particularly impressive natural landscapes. In the last years those spaces were rediscovered, attracting the attention of ritual specialists and faithful of the spirit possession cult. The national museum thus decided to launch an innovative project on some cultural sites, with the aim of documenting and preserving Ugandan history but at the same time allowing communities to attend the spots, in order to recreate a link with the past that tradition assured for centuries.