ABSTRACT
So far, I have analyzed how the issue of modern architectural heritage on the African continent is given form as an urgent anthropological problem in global heritage assemblages. I have taken my description of cultural heritage practices under the current conditions of globalization as a basic starting point to inquire into the norms and forms of human existence today. My analysis has carved out global heritage assemblages as domains in which human relations are subjected to political, technological and ethical reflection and debate. I have shown how (1) a global heritage assemblage around the modern architecture and urban planning of Asmara asserts politics of sovereignty and security as problematic modern practices, (2) a global heritage assemblage around the Maisons Tropicales contests technologies of authenticity and value problematizing of modern things, and (3) a global heritage assemblage around East African modern architecture negotiates ethics of legitimacy and responsibility regarding problematic classifications of the modern.
