Series
Volume 3
African Worlds: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives
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Decolonizing African Art History and Heritage
Unveiling Ritual Objects' Power as Spiritual Resilience
Claire Nalukenge
224 pages, 30 figs., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-83695-606-8 $135.00/£104.00 / Hb / Not Yet Published (August 2026)
eISBN 978-1-83695-616-7 eBook Not Yet Published
Reviews
“This book bears a nuanced, new perspective: the focus on decolonizing indigenous African art history and heritage could provide a fresh perspective on the field.” • Babirye Angella Nakaayi, Bugema University
Description
In Mubende Hill, Uganda, African art history lives through its spiritual traditions. Centering the agency of ritual objects and the ancestral Omweyimirize tree, this book reveals how clay pots, calabashes, Bachwezi cups and other artefacts mediate healing, identity, and continuity among the Balyammere. Drawing on oral histories, participatory fieldwork and decolonial critique, the author challenges museum practices that silence sacred objects by stripping them from context. It foregrounds indigenous interpretive authority while highlighting contemporary artistic re-engagements that sustain cultural knowledge, spiritual vitality and African epistemic sovereignty.
Claire Nalukenge is a Ugandan art historian and structural textile designer whose scholarship and practice center on indigenous aesthetics, spirituality, and cultural identity. She has co-organized art auctions, curated and facilitated exhibitions and gallery tours.



