Introducing contested heritage: The case of the Axum Obelisk

Jasper Chalcraft, from the University of Sussex, takes the case of the Axum Obelisk to illustrate the notion of contested heritage and the challenge it raises for cities.

Diversity may be successfully incorporated into a city’s cultural heritage and identity. However there can be difficult or contested issues from the past that have not been sufficiently elaborated and recognized so that all groups live their own history and identity is recognized in the city’s cultural fabric. Such issue can arise from the city’s colonial past (as the case of Bristol in the UK, discussed in a following step, suggests) or as a result of more recent population movements (as the case of Cologne in Germany, discussed in a following step, shows).

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Give us an example of a city that has had to come to terms with its contested heritage and how it managed to deal with it