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Fractures and Fragments: Finding Postcolonial Histories of Guinea in Local Archives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2015

John Straussberger
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Abstract

Using my experience working in the Regional Archives of Labé (Guinea), this essay examines the importance of using local archives to write political histories of postcolonial Africa. In doing so, I argue that the fractured and fragmentary nature of the postcolonial holdings of archives – often cited as a hurdle to writing histories of Africa after independence – is in fact the product of the states that (sometimes inadequately) maintain these repositories. As such, these “imperfect” archives should be approached as an opportunity to examine the local practice of statehood in postcolonial Africa.

Résumé

Sur la base de mon travail dans les archives régionales de Labé (Guinée-Conakry) je suggère dans cet essai l’importance cruciale des dépôts provinciaux pour écrire une histoire véritablement plurielle du politique en Afrique postcoloniale. Je soutiens que la nature fragmentaire de ces dépôts – souvent invoquée comme un obstacle à l’histoire de l’Afrique après les indépendances – offre une perspective unique sur les instances étatiques locales et sur leur techniques (parfois inaptes) de classement et de conservation documentaire. Il est donc important d’approcher ces archives “imparfaites” comme une opportunité permettant d’explorer les pratiques institutionnelles locales de l’Afrique postcoloniale.

Type
Writing the History of Africa after 1960
Information
History in Africa , Volume 42 , June 2015 , pp. 299 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2015 

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