Preserving Indigenous Knowledge and Driving Sustainable Change
In an increasingly interconnected world, the preservation of cultural heritage and traditional knowledge has never been more crucial. Across the African continent, community archives and Indigenous repositories face immense challenges – from inadequate funding and limited resources to the lasting impacts of colonialism. Yet within these archives lie the keys to unlocking solutions to some of humanity’s most pressing issues, from climate change to food security and peace-building.
The Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project seeks to empower African communities to reclaim their narratives and leverage their collective wisdom for positive social transformation. By forging a reciprocal partnership between the University of Illinois, African archivists, and international knowledge management organizations, this pioneering initiative aims to foster the preservation and accessibility of modern documentary materials – enabling Africans to tell their stories in their own terms.
At the heart of this endeavor is a commitment to epistemic justice – ensuring that the knowledge and perspectives of marginalized communities are heard, valued, and integrated into the global knowledge landscape. “Africa is blessed with traditions which can be documented, preserved, and passed on to new generations,” notes Amb. Dr. Joseph Kiplagat, a key project partner and former Kenyan Ambassador to South Sudan. “Using current digital tools to impart best practices can help mitigate current challenges like peaceful co-existence, environmental degradation, and social/behavioral health.”
Decolonizing Digital Preservation
The Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project operates within a governance model that centers African voices, recognizing the imperative to decolonize the field of digital preservation. “How a thing gets curated is directly connected to when it gets curated, where it gets curated, by who it gets curated, and their histories,” explains Dr. El-Malik, a scholar on the decolonization of knowledge.
By integrating African perspectives into preservation resources originally developed outside of the continent, the project aims to foster a more inclusive and equitable knowledge landscape. “Decolonizing archives and knowledge is not about closing the door to European or other traditions,” says Dr. Ngugi, a leading voice in the decolonization movement. “Rather, it entails engaging partners from the diverse global community, encompassing the Global North, Global South, First Nations, Indigenous knowledge holders, elders, community champions, local communities, women, and youth.”
To this end, the project team has established a reciprocal partnership with African archivists, community leaders, and international organizations such as the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) community. Together, they will co-develop training materials and provide “train the trainers” sessions in Ghana, Kenya, and Botswana – empowering community champions, Indigenous knowledge holders, and other African partners to digitally preserve and provide access to vital cultural resources.
Preserving Knowledge for Sustainable Development
The Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project is guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recognizing the pivotal role that Indigenous knowledge and community archives can play in addressing global challenges. By preserving and sharing local expertise on topics such as food production, ecosystem preservation, climate change mitigation, peace-building, and reconciliation, the project seeks to catalyze meaningful, community-driven solutions.
“Political community depends on the narratives by which people make sense of their condition and interpret the common life they share,” writes philosopher Michael Sandel. “The loss of capacity for narrative would amount to the ultimate disempowering of the human subject, for without narrative there is no continuity between present and past, therefore no responsibility, and therefore no possibility of acting together to govern ourselves.”
This sentiment lies at the heart of the project’s mission. By empowering African communities to document and share their knowledge, the initiative aims to foster a sense of collective responsibility and agency – equipping local leaders to tackle pressing issues and shape a more sustainable, equitable future.
Building Capacity and Catalyzing Connections
The Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project is taking a multifaceted approach to capacity-building and knowledge-sharing. In addition to the “train the trainers” sessions, the team is facilitating the co-creation of preservation resources, supporting demonstration projects, and fostering cross-cultural collaboration.
“Collaborative partnerships and respectful relationships between Africa and global partners are an essential pillar in this paradigm shift,” notes the project’s leadership team. To this end, the initiative is tapping into existing networks and forging new connections – from the Digital Preservation Coalition to the KM4Dev community and beyond.
“Currently, there are several activities going on various fronts and by different organizations in Kenya, which speak to the issues outlined above,” explains Amb. Dr. Kiplagat. “Many of these projects seek to achieve objectives aligned with this project’s goals, though at a considerably smaller scale. By expanding the scope and scale of these efforts, we can create a transformative impact.”
The project’s first major milestone will be an in-person summit at the iPRES 2024 conference in Ghent, Belgium. Here, a diverse group of partners from African institutions, the University of Illinois, the Digital Preservation Coalition, and the KM4Dev community will convene to identify key needs, share resources, and map out the path forward.
Preserving the Past, Shaping the Future
Beyond the immediate goals of capacity-building and preservation, the Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project has its sights set on long-term, sustainable impact. By pursuing external funding and partnerships, the team aims to amplify their work and position African communities as leaders in the global digital preservation landscape.
“Long term, we will pursue projects that preserve records documenting the rising African continent and Indigenous knowledge practices, to support sustainable development and democratic governance,” the project leaders explain. This could include collaborations with academic institutions, private foundations, national governments, and international organizations like the International Council of Archives and UNESCO.
Ultimately, the Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project is about more than just preserving the past – it’s about empowering African communities to shape the future. By centering Indigenous knowledge and community-driven narratives, the initiative seeks to cultivate a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world.
“Epistemic justice holds that issues of knowledge, understanding, and communication determine how people experience empowerment or disempowerment,” explains the project’s theoretical framework. “It is fundamentally concerned with whose knowledge is heard and whose knowledge is ignored or excluded, and it has implications at individual, group, structural and systemic levels.”
By addressing these systemic inequities, the Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good project aims to catalyze a paradigm shift – one that recognizes the vital role of African communities in safeguarding our shared global heritage and securing a brighter tomorrow.
