Paper short abstract:

This paper highlights the differences in accessibility of Tanzanian and Kenyan (governmental and media) archives. It will discuss the implications of these different archival policies for research practices and outcomes.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to draw attention to the role of policies and governmental attitudes towards archives in shaping the availability and accessibility of archival sources in East Africa. When I conducted research on labour relations in the flower industry in Kenya, I could consult a variety of archival sources for gaining a detailed understanding of the development of this industry. Examples were a physical provincial archive, the digitized archive of the Nation Media Group - accessible in their office in Nairobi -, and several types of governmental documents that have been made available online, such as court case rulings and parliamentary records. My experiences in a subsequent research project in Tanzania were different. I could not identify a publicly-accessible regional archive and unluckily the National Archives closed for the public due to the start of the pandemic. I moreover found that Tanzanian governmental documents have not been made available online to the same extent as they have been in Kenya. Finally, online archives of Tanzanian newspapers go back only a decade or so, and moreover, some newspapers were temporarily suspended by the government and their archives made unavailable at the time I conducted my research.

This paper will interrogate the different policies with regards to the access to and availability of archives between these neighboring countries. It will also discuss the differential effects of these policies on my research outcomes and will more broadly discuss implications for carrying out research in and on these countries.