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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | An endangered rersource: the preservation of liberation struggle archives in East and Southern Africa |
Author: | Garaba, Francis |
Year: | 2011 |
Periodical: | African Research and Documentation (ISSN 0305-862X) |
Issue: | 115 |
Pages: | 25-36 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | East Africa Southern Africa |
Subjects: | national liberation struggles archives |
Abstract: | There is a need to identify and locate the archives of former national liberation movements in eastern and southern Africa and determine whether the records are being professionally managed. To this end, the author investigated the national archives repositories of Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the archival repositories housing the records of the ANC, FRELIMO, MPLA, SWAPO, ZANU-PF and ZIPRA, interviewing archivists, manuscript librarians and directors and undertaking a physical inspection of the facilities and the state of the records. The article details his findings and recommendations, and highlights a number of issues that need further exploration. Considering that the unique and irreplaceable heritage of a country is at stake, the management of liberation struggle archives should be a national responsibility and not be left to the political parties that spearheaded the struggle. There is therefore an urgent need to modernize legislation in order for liberation struggle archives to be taken care of at national and not at organizational level, as is currently the case. Bibliogr., note, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |