ABSTRACT
A case in point: South Africa has a sophisticated constitution, an independent judiciary and constitutional court, and diverse legislation directed at national reconstruction. Passing over the implication that the South African government is prepared to honor aboriginal rights to state land only when they contribute to its own revenue generation, what is relevant is the style of public discourse. The contradiction resides in place-Africa as the “source of life” and the “heart of darkness”—but also in the sense of time. The purpose of Africa: The Art of a Continent is to present Africa “as it really is,” stripped of the influence of the outside world. Thus archaeology in Africa is founded on the moral justifications for colonialism-anthropology’s seminal problem and the source of an enduring sense of ambiguity and shame. In West Africa “Negritude” writers stressed the superiority of African culture, with its mystical connections with the past and with the land, over the corrupt materialism of Europe.
