Authenticity In African American Culture

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Over this semester we have focused on the overall topic of authenticity and how this is shown within sites that are located around the world. How to define authenticity when it comes to how it is used and seen in archaeology is the qualities of the site and how the site has been changed or modified to attract tourist, that creates revenue and get certain down on the map. Some of the challenges when it comes to defining what is authentic is based off information that is available on the site and finding ways for the site to connect to a culture and community that is present to talk about the site. Sometimes not every site is keen on inviting public involvement which how accurate the site is to what time in history it relates to. Changes that …show more content…

The different audiences of the sites that families were believed to be transported from the slave castles to America believe that they should not have to pay to see their own heritage, and many African Americans have protested about the preservation of the castles that Osei-Tutu addressed observed “African American Criticism of the preservation is a part of the prolong struggle they have waged over preservation of their heritage” (Osei-Tutu, 2004). From the point of view of the African American community the problem lies with the site being painted and modified to look real and authentic which they believe made the actions done in the castle romanticized and not a serious as it is to get your culture and home stripped away. So, African American who have protested this monument want the actions done it this not to lose it legitimacy. The monument is important and has been painted over to look authentic before its original state where the site would have been overlooked if the walls weren’t painted. This site may be debated about among some visitors and it does not tell a inaccurate story of the overall and is deemed as an authentic site. There are sites around the world that are up to debate when it comes to …show more content…

The history behind Cape Town and this district has been rich in culture and history that was overall well preserved, but the issue was that this district before the modernization became along was not what people considered an attractive tourist site. A up and coming artist that renamed the Zonnebloem street changed it to district six that was a faced with discrimination in 1966 that had many black homes and monuments destroyed as an act of systematic racism that lead to the District six museum. Artist wanted to get involved and mark or tagged the building with graffiti styled art with the word “Witness” in 2012. With this site the activism art is overall messing with the authenticity of the site, even though in 1966 blacks and Africans were kicked out of the area this place still shows a time in history and the story that was