ABSTRACT
This chapter is a contribution to the history of heritage management in West Africa. It is a panoramic view of the creation of a number of museums from the colonial period to the present day. Post-independence ideologies have driven the construction of museum institutions in several countries, which in one way or the other have played an important role in the representation of history and the conception of a cultural heritage that they have helped to identify and safeguard. The historical context of the construction of these museums as well as their evolution deserves to be analysed in the light of the colonial project and the expansion of cultural imperialism. The various international conferences on museums and African heritage as well as the normativity of international institutions such as UNESCO and ICOM are, indicative of the evolution of the concept. Today, the lessons of the current crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Live Matters movements and the restitution of African heritage are totally redefining cultural geopolitics and the relationships of knowledge and hierarchy that is still alive. From the first museum projects created by the coloniser in Africa to the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, through the Theodore Monod Museum of African Art of IFAN Ch. A. Diop, this chapter interogates the meaning of heritage in the global context of claims relating to human rights and the representation of history.
