 | African Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management : Theory and Practice from Southern Africa For a long time, resource conservationists have viewed environmental conservation as synonymous with wilderness and wildlife resources only, oblivious to the contributions made by cultural and heritage resources. However, cultural heritage resources in many parts of the developing world are gradually becoming key in social (e.g. communities' identities and museums), economic (heritage tourism and eco-tourism), educational (curriculum development), civic (intergenerational awareness), and international resources management (e.g. UNESCO). In universities, African cultural heritage resources are facing a challenge of being brought into various academic discourses and syllabi in a rather reactive and/or haphazard approach, resulting in failure to fully address and research these resources' conservation needs to ensure that their use in multiple platforms and by various stakeholders is sustainable. This book seeks to place African cultural heritage studies and conservation practiceswithin an international and modern world discourse of conservation by presenting its varied themes and topics that are important for the development of the wider field of cultural heritage studies and management. Dr Susan O. Keitumetse obtained a BA degree (Archaeologyand Environmental Sciences) and Post Graduate Diploma in Education (Geographyand History) from the University of Botswana. She went on to compete for and wintwo separate Commonwealth scholarships both to University of Cambridge, UK,where she pursued an MPhil (Archaeological Heritage Management and Museums) andlater on a PhD (African Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development). Duringher post-graduate studies, she combined both environmental science andarchaeology disciplines to venture into the broader cultural and heritagemanagement studies with a particular focus on sustainable development andcultural heritage management at the Department of Archaeology, University ofCambridge. Following on this background, and with a view to catalyze a linkagebetween environment and cultural heritage in Africa, Dr Keitumetse conductedvarious researches and published works that illustrate the relevance ofcultural and heritageresources for the broader environmental conservation. Sheis currently employed at the University of Botswana''s Okavango ResearchInstitute as a research scholar in cultural heritage and tourism where sheundertakes applied research in areas such as the Okavango inland Delta WorldHeritage Site and the Kalahari Desert areas of Botswana. Dr Keitumetse continuesto work towards developing a cultural heritage management program for Africausing experience from her work. Of particular note is her developing a conservationmodel of Community-Based Cultural Heritage Resources Management (COBACHREM) to guidelocal communities and practitioners'' initiatives towards sustainable use ofcultural heritage resources for social development. Chapter 4 provides detailed contentsof the model. Dr Susan Keitumetse has published extensively in thefield of cultural heritage conservation and management in Africa. Her workscomprise of peer-reviewed articles in international journals; peer-reviewed bookchapters; refereed conference proceedings; and technical reports in internationalperiodicals, magazines and newspapers. She has presented written and oralpapers in numerous international conferences on the subject of African culturalheritage and development around the world, including Britain, America and Europe. Dr Keitumetse currently serves as an associateeditor of the journal ''Environment, Development, and Sustainability'' publishedby Springer. She also sits on the editorial board of the International Journalof Community Archaeology and Heritage, published by Taylor and Francis(formerly published by Maney Publishers), as well as the International Journalof Heritage and Sustainable Development published by Green Lines Institute,Portugal. Dr Keitumetse has both national and internationalexperience from various African countries, as well as institutions outsideAfrica. In addition to competing for and securing two international academicscholarshipsfor her post-graduate studies at the University of Cambridge, shehas won academic grants for research fellowships in international institutionsthat include the Rockefeller Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, WashingtonDC, USA, and the Watson Scholar Fellowship at Brown University in Rhode Island,USA. Outside academia and in the internationaldevelopment arena, Dr Keitumetse has worked and continues to work withinstitutions such as UNESCO where she has been engaged as an expert advisor,examiner, facilitator, and consultant within the intangible cultural heritagesection in countries such as Uganda, Swaziland, and Lesotho. She has corporate governance experience from African parastatalinstitutions dealing with environment, heritage, tourism and land use planning.These are derived from her tenure as a board director of Botswana TourismOrganisation for six years, where she also chaired a quality assurance committeeof the board dealing with grading and certifying tourism accommodationestablishments. Dr Keitumetse is currently a committee member of a governmentgazetted Physical Planning Committee under the Ministry of Lands and Housing,operationalized by the North-West District Council (NWDC) under the Ministry ofLocal Government, Republic of Botswana. The committee deals with land planningand Dr Keitumetse is instrumental in ensuring that conventional land planningtools take cognizance of cultural landscapes and communities'' cultural heritagein areas earmarked for development planning. Her overall research interests are in the areas ofsustainable development and cultural heritage conservation; historicalarchaeology; environmental archaeology; community heritage management; heritagetourism; heritage and protected areas; international management of culturalheritage; amongst others. |
