"Bedürfnis zur Beachtung"

Ikonoklasmus, afrikanisches Kulturerbe und Bildökonomie

Abstract

Taking its lead from Frobenius' remarks on the cult of ruins in early twentieth Germany, the paper argues for a mix of constructivist and substantivist views in the understanding of cultural heritage in Africa and beyond. While the institutionalisation and global proliferation of heritage sites certainly have a European origin, the forces driving this development are rooted in the dynamics of symbolic exchange between the dead and the living. Focusing particularly on the role of images as memorial media the paper shows that conceiving heritage as exchange not only allows for a better understanding of the contractual nature of heritage - including its iconoclastic rejection. The approach also sharpens the interest in the media of exchange and the question of their control.