Überblick
At the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) the project 'Archaeology and (shared) heritage of German colonialism: Materialities of colonisation, resistance and cultural entanglement on the African continent' has been developed for the past couple of years. Within this ‘umbrella project’, approaches to the study, preservation, presentation and future use of the – often difficult – colonial period (built) heritage are developed in cooperation with partners from countries affected by German colonialism. One initiative concerns the town of Pangani in north-eastern Tanzania, which was once a seat of colonial administration in German East Africa and is known as the centre of the Abushiri revolt against German colonial expansion.
Material remains of the colonial past as well as oral traditions have been studied and documented over the past 20 years or so by Tanzanian and British archaeologists as well as other heritage professionals in close cooperation with local partners. Based on this work, a new joint project has recently been launched together with colleagues from the Universities of Dar es Salaam and Cambridge as well as local NGOs and other stakeholders from the local community. This pilot project, funded by the Culture Preservation Programme of the German Foreign Office, is developing collaborative strategies for further research on the colonial period (built) heritage of Pangani, for building preservation and for the rehabilitation of these structures in ways that are beneficial to the local community.
