{"id":5748,"date":"2015-07-01T17:16:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T17:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/?p=5748"},"modified":"2015-07-01T17:28:42","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T17:28:42","slug":"south-africa-archives-and-the-african-national-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2015\/07\/01\/south-africa-archives-and-the-african-national-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa, Archives and the African National Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Apartheid<\/a>

Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg<\/p><\/div>\n

My visit to South Africa\u00a0on assignment for\u00a0Global Affairs\/UNESCO and Archives & Special Collections\u00a0began in\u00a0the first week of June in\u00a0Johannesburg during an unusually cold winter (for South Africa).\u00a0 The purpose of the trip was\u00a0to explore and convene on\u00a0the archival landscape which had\u00a0been mapped in 2000 through a partnership between the African National Congress (ANC)\u00a0and the University of Connecticut.\u00a0 The initial\u00a0archives project\u00a0was\u00a0funded by the Mellon Foundation<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to organize, describe and make accessible the\u00a0ANC archives<\/span><\/span><\/a> documenting its activities while in exile under Apartheid.\u00a0 These archives, located at the National\u00a0Heritage\u00a0and Cultural Studies Center <\/span><\/span><\/a>(NAHECS) University of Fort Hare (UFH)\u00a0in Alice, Eastern Cape,\u00a0have been\u00a0available in their reading room for public research since 2005.\u00a0 Between 2000 and 2005, UConn sent faculty, archivists, librarians\u00a0and oral historians to UFH\u00a0to\u00a0hold training sessions and benefit from this skill sharing partnership.\u00a0 In\u00a0conjunction,\u00a0UFH sent archivists and librarians to\u00a0receive training\u00a0within the UConn libraries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Luthuli House, ANC Headquarters, Johannesburg<\/p><\/div>\n

A significant documentation project was organized by Bruce Stave of\u00a0UConn’s Center for Oral History, which led to\u00a0training a group of\u00a0South Africans to record oral histories of ANC members\u00a0about their experiences under Apartheid.\u00a0 As part of the post-custodial model of archival collecting, a facsimile collection (ANC Oral History Transcript Collection<\/span><\/span><\/a>)\u00a0was housed at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn’s Archives & Special Collections, making our institution the official repository of the ANC outside of South Africa.\u00a0The focus of my mission, fifteen years from the inception\u00a0of the project, was to identify the viability of reengaging the partnership with the ANC and UFH.\u00a0 I visited Luthuli House in Johannesburg where the\u00a0headquarters of the ANC are located to discuss the future of the digital\u00a0archives project.\u00a0 In addition, I met with\u00a0leading South African\u00a0archivist Verne Harris of the Nelson Mandela Foundation\u00a0who was involved in training during the\u00a0initial phase of the project.\u00a0The\u00a0Apartheid\u00a0Museum was also a very immersive experience into the representation of the nation’s history and\u00a0transition toward\u00a0democracy which is still ongoing.<\/p>\n

\"UConn<\/a>

UConn Archivist Graham Stinnett with Nelson Mandela Foundation Archivist Verne Harris<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Momar Ndiaye and Staff of the UFH International Affairs Office<\/p><\/div>\n

From Johannesburg, I\u00a0traveled to\u00a0East London in the Eastern Cape to meet my\u00a0gracious hosts at the University of Fort Hare. Over a course of two days, my visits to\u00a0the satellite\u00a0campus\u00a0to meet with the Vice Chancellor and Deans\u00a0of\u00a0various faculties\u00a0before heading to Alice where the main campus is located, were important context building\u00a0meetings for understanding the capacities and role the\u00a0University plays in the community there.\u00a0 An historically black college which has produced many famous voices of\u00a0liberation such as Nelson\u00a0Mandela and Robert Mugabe, the University houses the major faculty components, archives\u00a0and research of the region.\u00a0 Seeing the archives,\u00a0art gallery, library and research\u00a0facilities\u00a0broadened my perspective on how two academic environments could\u00a0build and\u00a0support each other through student exchange and faculty and staff\u00a0training.\u00a0Our schedule also included a visit to the Steve Biko\u00a0Centre in King William’s Town which was a fantastic display of community engagement within the walls of a\u00a0museum and archives space.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

ANC Archives at NAHECS University of Fort Hare<\/p><\/div>\n

Concluding the trip was a visit to Cape Town where\u00a0I was immediately struck by the contrasts between Capes and Cities within South Africa.\u00a0 The regionalism seemed as starkly contrasted as the elevation\u00a0change from East to West.\u00a0 Hearing\u00a0the personal histories of struggle and identity of\u00a0individuals throughout the journey was as rewarding as the\u00a0completion of the trip.\u00a0 I made many new friends and colleagues as well as broadened my understanding of the necessary\u00a0solidarity between information workers\u00a0from the Global North to South.\u00a0 A personal thank you is extended\u00a0to all of the individuals who made time for me and answered\u00a0what were most likely simplistic or culturally\u00a0unaware questions.\u00a0 The door is open to you all at the Archives & Special Collections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My visit to South Africa\u00a0on assignment for\u00a0Global Affairs\/UNESCO and Archives & Special Collections\u00a0began in\u00a0the first week of June in\u00a0Johannesburg during an unusually cold winter (for South Africa).\u00a0 The purpose of the trip was\u00a0to explore and convene on\u00a0the archival landscape which … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[144,256,275],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5748"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5752,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748\/revisions\/5752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}