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- Convenors:
-
Duane Jethro
(University of Cape Town)
Julia Binter (University of Bonn)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Social media, archiving and ‘the digital’
- Location:
- S46 (RWII)
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 1 October, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
Calls for the return of African artifacts in European museums emphasize urgency in digitizing archives for provenance research. This panel profiles digital archival projects by African institutions, NGOs and art collectives that intervene in knowledge connected with object collections.
Long Abstract:
As calls for the restitution of African artefacts held in German and European museums mount, the need for opening and digitising archives to enable provenance research into the histories and colonial entanglements of objects and collections has grown. In turn, the nature of colonial archives, their omissions, silences and fallacies have come under greater scrutiny. From hacking the archive to reconfiguring them into new archival assemblages, a host of new attempts to Intervene in and plurify the knowledge connected with historical objects via digital means has arisen. Despite these efforts, a majority of European institutions have yet to speed up and diversify their digitization practices. On the other hand, African institutions, NGOs and art collectives have made great leaps in the field of archives and digitization. They are increasingly generating new frameworks for presenting what traceability and accessibility of knowledge about the past can look like online. This panel presents examples of digital archival projects from the African continent and about African collections held in European institutions that advance such archival innovation. Shedding light on the rich and diverse digital epistemologies emerging on and from the African continent, it explores the possibilities they present for shifting key debates in African Studies in areas such as heritage, cultural restitution and digital archival practice today.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 1 October, 2024, -Paper short abstract:
This paper maps out major digitization projects that selected Kenyan archives have carried out, and sheds light on digital archival processes in an effort to establish how these activities recreate a new learning space and opportunities that enhance access to indigenous music learning resources.
Paper long abstract:
The practice of archiving music materials has been taking place in various institutions in African countries. While some practices in these countries remain similar, others differ based on both geographical and historical contexts. It is noteworthy that archives are gradually evolving from basically being preservation sites to centers of knowledge production. Digital archival practices in Kenya keep on being reinvented in various institutions such as Permanent Presidential Music Commission (PPMC), Kenya Broadcasting Corporation(KBC) and KETEBUL studios. In this paper, we explore the many benefits that the advancement of these repositories pose to the music education sector in Kenya. It is notable that the PPMC has for a while acted as a link between the music industry in Kenya and the Kenyan music education field. This being the case, this paper elucidates the progress in archival practices, and the endless possibilities that PPMC and other selected archives present to the Kenyan music classroom. We start by mapping out major digitization projects that these institutions have carried out, and shedding light on digital archival processes in an effort to establish how these activities recreate a new learning space and opportunities that enhance access to indigenous music learning resources.
Key words: Music archives, Digital Archiving, Music Education, Digital Repositories
Paper short abstract:
This paper uses the southern African archive at the Horniman Museum and Gardens to expose how colonial knowledge is still present in displays of African people. It will focus on social justice and decolonial frameworks to argue for new ways to engage with archives, physical and digital.
Paper long abstract:
The Horniman Museum and Gardens holds a vast collection of material culture and animal specimens. The museum opened in 1890 as the vision of Frederick Horniman as an education museum for an impoverished council of London to be taught of the empire and their place within it. While the museum is currently open about their colonial past and focus on community projects they still rely on knowledge gathered during the colonial period when working with the material culture in their collection. This failure can be traced directly to the museum archive – an archive filled with degradation of southern African people, ominous silences and harsh taxonomies that straddle paper and digital archives. I am currently undertaking a Collaborative Doctoral Studentship with the Horniman to find the path of colonial violence in museum archives to museum displays and to propose new ways of engaging with the museum archive with a focus on their South African collections. My work seeks to unpack what the colonial archive is – not a monolithic institution against which we work but fallible and fractured human made attempts at control which can be dismantled. I have now turned to the experimental work of social justice archives, as seen in South Africa and Canada, to build up a malleable museum archive which is accountable to its silences and holds space for differences. This is particularly important to the museums digital archive. This is a work in progress, and I hope to be inspired and challenged by this panel.
Paper short abstract:
African memory institutions face the dual challenge of decolonizing archival collections and preserving them through digitization. This is crucial for materials like audiovisual heritage and historical documents that reveal the continent's rich cultures. Decolonization involves re-examining archival
Paper long abstract:
Across Africa, memory institutions are tackling the intertwined challenges of decolonizing archival collections and ensuring their preservation through digitization. This effort is especially vital for audiovisual heritage materials, photographs, and other historical documents that offer profound insights into the continent's rich past and diverse cultures. Decolonization in this context involves more than just physical repatriation; it demands a critical re-examination of archival narratives to ensure African perspectives and voices are at the forefront.
Digitization emerges as a powerful tool, serving both preservation and the democratization of access. By transitioning fragile physical records into digital formats, archives can be secured for future generations while being made more readily available to students, scholars, communities, and the public at large. However, the journey of decolonization and digitization is complex and multifaceted. Budgetary constraints, a shortage of skilled personnel, and technological challenges pose significant hurdles to these initiatives.
Additionally, ethical considerations become prominent as power dynamics surrounding the digitization process, ownership, access, and control of these historical treasures come into play. Questions about who gets to decide what is digitized and how it is made accessible are critical to address.
This presentation delves into these issues through the lens of a West African archivist, drawing on practical experience and contextual understanding. It explores potential intersections and frictions between decolonization and digitization efforts, highlighting both the opportunities and the obstacles encountered.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation draws a perspective from an ongoing digital archive initiative, the Organ House Documentation and Digitization project, at Mountain Top University, Ibafo, Nigeria, to show processes of reconfiguring the notion of archive through digital epistemologies in Nigeria.
Paper long abstract:
Archives are spaces of power. They perpetuate uneven power relations, privileges and colonial structures. In many African societies, archives and frameworks for documentation still maintain colonial epistemologies. This reproduction of colonial structures is embodied and performed through principles and strategies archivists and scholars have adopted. Thus, the concept of archives remains a colonial epistemology. What might it mean to reconfigure the idea of an archive in Africa? What might decolonial digital epistemologies mean for rethinking archives and documentation in contemporary Africa? This presentation draws a perspective from an ongoing digital archive initiative, the Organ House Documentation and Digitization project, at Mountain Top University, Ibafo, Nigeria, to show processes of reconfiguring the notion of archive through digital epistemologies in Nigeria.
Paper short abstract:
Digitization, decolonization, and knowledge production require some sort of transformation to reshape traditional archival practices. Looking at critical questions surrounding access and representation, this study aims to investigate the necessity of preserving the archives through digital means.
Paper long abstract:
In an era where the decolonization of knowledge is paramount, digitization will help those objects once silenced or marginalized in conventional historical narratives find a voice in this digital realm. This paper explores the evolving landscape of archival practices in Africa, focusing on the imperative to reimagine traditional methods in light of digital advancements. This digital archive not only preserves these voices but also invites an interactive engagement with history. Users can explore the stories behind each object, delving into the cultural, social, and political contexts from which they emerged. This participatory approach fosters a more nuanced understanding of history, encouraging a critical examination of past narratives and prompting a reconsideration of present perspectives. To this effect, one of such organizations called the Talking Objects Archive proposes the decolonization of African archives and knowledge production systems by digitizing objects and artifacts. The Museum for West African Arts (MOWAA) is dedicated to the preservation of heritage, expansion of knowledge and celebration of West African arts and culture. The Benin Bronze Project serves as a compelling illustration of how digitization initiatives empower local communities to reclaim, safeguard, and disseminate their cultural patrimony on a global scale. Digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to expand access to archival collections, democratize knowledge, and foster intercultural dialogue. Through digitization initiatives, archives can transcend geographical barriers and reach diverse audiences, enabling communities to reclaim and reinterpret their historical narratives.
Keywords: Digitization, Benin Bronze, Archive, Heritage, Decolonization and Knowledge production.