ABSTRACT
An African research milieu is often within villages or pastoral settings where there are daily interactions with people during their quotidian activities. A long and rich history of ethnoarchaeology and the use of oral traditions are distinctive and have often engaged us in collaborative research programs that have featured the role of indigenous knowledge in constructions of ancient and more recent histories. The most pointed lesson learned in Katuruka and other communities in northwest Tanzania is that all politics are local and that heritage work is highly political observations of significant pertinence. Since research and heritage protection and development began in Katuruka, surrounding communities and members of neighboring communities, government agencies, schools, and businesses have come to see the Katuruka experiment as an inspiration. The absence of particular knowledge about the history of space and place created a variety of dilemmas for interpretative treatments appropriate for joining intangible heritage to the otherwise silent architectural forms of Kanazi.
