ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly examines the current dominant constructs of "indigenous/Indigenous archaeology", their implications and some of the discordances between these. It explores whether these concepts are directly transferable to African contexts. More specifically, the chapter also explores the contrasting usage of concepts of indigeneity across sub-Saharan Africa, why different understandings of "being indigenous" act against the promotion of "Indigenous archaeology" on the continent and the consequential greater preference for terms such as "community" or "public" archaeology. In many parts of the world, the development of "Indigenous archaeology" has been linked to the development of postcolonial perspectives and practices. The inclusion in South Africa's new coat of arms adopted after the 1994 elections of a phrase rendered in the extinct Northern Cape/Xam language, which is accompanied by a redrawing of rock-art on the Linton stone, is perhaps the most overt indication of the political currency of the concept.
