Mul - unesdoc - Unesco

of Udo appointed by the Oba is a resurgence of
the stubbornness of his ancestor which until this
day is ritually remembered by the invocation of
all capricious spirits from Benin to Udo. The
lyase has since been suspended by the Oba.
Against this conflictual background the Nigerian
World Heritage Committee is employing wisdom
by adopting a pilot approach with Ekhor, the
most authentic and consensual mode1 of the
co-relationship of cultural diversity and
biodiversity, as well as providing an integral
landscape of vital historical interpretation of
settlement: territory growth, inter-settlement
relationship and socio-political statuses involved
in kingdom development which is epitomised by
Benin City in the Guinea Forest of Southern
Nigeria. A serial nomination as earlier proposed
for the walls of Ekhor Benin City Udo (Benin
Kingdom) and Sungbo’s Eredo (Yoruba
Kingdom) would have further politicised the
nominations and delayed it forever. Thanks
again to UNESCO/ICOMOS advice and
assistance, Ekhor (Benin Kingdom Earthworks)
may well be Nigeria’s second cultural landscape
to take further advantage of the Global Strategy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BRADBURY, R.E. - The Benin kingdom and
Edo-Speaking people of South Western Nigeria,
International Africa Institution, London, 1957.
BRADBURY, R.E. - Benin Studies, Oxford
University Press, London and Ibadan, 1973.
CONNAH, G. - The Archaeology of Benin,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975.
DARLING, P.J. - Archaeology and History in
southern Nigeria: the ancient linear earthworks
of Benin and Ishan, Oxford, 7984.
DR. EBOREIME, O.J. - Coronation as Drama
The Installation of a Benin Monarch as a
Continuity of tradition and the Manufacture of
Ethnie Identity, Cambridge Anthropology, Vol. 70,
No. 2, 1985.
EGHAREVHA, J.U. - A Short History of Benin,
Ibadan University Press, 1960.
LEACH, E. - Culture and Communication: An
Introduction to the use of Structuralist Analysis in
Social Anthropology, Cambridge University
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Authenticity and lntegrity in an African Context
MUNJERI, D. - Report on the Nomination of
Benin Eat-thworks (C844) and the Hidi Palace
Sukur (845), UNESCO World Heritage Centre,
1997.
MUNJERI, D. - Report on the preparation
of Nomination Dossiers for Ekhor and
Osun-Osogbo sites proposed by the State Party
of Nigeria as Possible World Heritage Site,
Mission Report NHWC (Benin) and WHC (Paris),
1999.
ONOKERHORAYE, A.G. - Benin : A Traditional
African City in Transition, The Benin Social
Science series for A frica, Nigeria, 1995.