Archives at the Crossroads 2007 - Nelson Mandela Foundation

Appendix 4: Regional Archival Platform Proposal Summary, April 2007BackgroundAcross 2005-7 the Constitution of Public Intellectual Life Research Project(University of the Witwatersrand) hosted a focus on the relationship betweenarchive and public deliberation. This took the form of a series of papers analyzingthat relationship 1 as well as a public lecture series. 2 The findings and discussionswhich resulted from these initiatives chimed with other indications of an urgentneed for a region-wide intervention in the area of archives. The Project thenundertook a process of scoping a possible initiative in the area of archivesdesigned to stimulate and support the sector. The current proposal, yet in draftform, is the product of that scoping exercise and a widespread process ofdiscussion with various archival stakeholders.The Key IssuesThe processes described above highlighted four important issues and linkedneeds:1. A Changing Concept of Archive: The very concept of archive that we arecurrently working with is not a fixed one, but one that is undergoing intensivetheoretical, epistemological and political rethinking. Most of us are aware ofsome of the aspects of that rethinking, typically the aspects that are closest toour own area of work. Most of us are also aware that other forms of rethinkingare going on elsewhere. Collectively we need a mechanism that assists us inknowing as much as possible about the kind of rethinking that is going onoutside our own immediate areas of work, without us having each to find thatout for ourselves. And we need forums in which to discuss these developmentsand their implications.We operate in a new world in which the public, and the knowledge system, arehungry for new kinds of archives capable of supporting new and very differentavenues of enquiry. We face a significant challenge in setting the agenda forthe emergence of those archives. We need to facilitate and support that process.1. See C.Hamilton, “Archival Sepulchres and Memory Theatres,” essay for the Nelson MandelaFoundation, 2005; C. Hamilton and X. Mangcu, “Freedom, Public Deliberation and the Archive,”paper presented to the South African Historical A ssociation, June, 2006; C.Hamilton, “Archive andDiasporic Knowledge,” paper for the Workshop on African and African Diasporic Knowledges, UCT,October, 2006; X.Mangcu, “Public Deliberation and Political Culture: Freeing Up the South AfricanArchive,” opening address to the SAHA Workshop, “Memory, Heritage and the Public Interest,”November 2006, Johannesburg.2. See www.public-conversations.org.za28 | “National System, Public Interest” Open Report