By Whom, What, Why and How might Zanzibar’s History be Told?

Abstract

Zanzibar is an essential island gateway connecting far flung ancient realms — conveying peoples, ideas and produce, especially between the worlds of Africa, Arabia, India and Iran. Zanzibar’s multi-layered, highly textured history is reflected today in the island’s tangible and intangible heritage. This article provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities in researching and presenting Zanzibar’s dynamic multi-period multinational history within the framework of “public archaeology”. It asks questions such as “Who are the stakeholders?” and “Who has rights of ownership, access, interpretation, conservation and dissemination of Zanzibar’s past with consideration of modern socio-political and economic factors impacting narration of Zanzibar’s history?”.