Passions and pathogens: Notes on the uncertainty of heritage

Abstract

This response to Zoë Strother’s “Iconoclasms in Africa,” specifically its attention to the historical entanglement of museums and iconoclasm, reflects on the notions of collection, curation, and heritage. I pay special attention to the idea of curation as a form of healing, exploring this idea in the context of the renewed debate on restitution and repatriation. I argue that not only is uncertainty inscribed into the notion of heritage but that uncertainty itself has become a form of heritage.