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Navigating the Kenya National Archives: Research and its Role in Kenyan Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Matthew Carotenuto  and
Katherine Luongo
Matthew Carotenuto
Affiliation:
Indiana University
Katherine Luongo
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Extract

Situated at the edge of the central business district in downtown Nairobi, the Kenya National Archives (KNA) is a reservoir and living example of historical and ethnographic knowledge. Straddling the boundary between “tourist” Nairobi and “real” Nairobi, the KNA inhabits a space that transcends both function and class in a cosmopolitan, urban setting. The archives look out on the landmark Hilton Hotel, together with the swarms of up-market tourists and wealthy locals it attracts. On the KNA's rear, Tom Mboya street serves a modern gateway to the crushing, chaotic avenues and alleys that the vast majority of Nairobi's citizens tread daily as they depart from and return to the stark realities of Nairobi's eastern slums. Engulfed by the wailing horns of passing matatus and the rhythmic calls of street hawkers, the spaces inside and outside the archive offer a rich terrain for social scientists interested in both contemporary and historical Kenya.

The composition of the KNA's clientele also reflects the boundaries that the archives span. Throughout the day, international tourists and local schoolchildren trickle into the groundfloor museum (currently undergoing a major renovation supported by the Ford Foundation) to view the extensive collection of artifacts and photographs representing Kenya's diverse cultures and rich history. Tucked away upstairs, a broad spectrum of patrons works and studies in the archives' reading room, using the KNA's resources for a variety of professional and personal projects.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 32 , 2005 , pp. 445 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2005

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References

1 Matthew Carotenuto (Indiana University) and Katherine Luongo (University of Michigan) are Ph.D. candidates in African History who have recently concluded a year's dissertation research in Kenya supported by Fulbright-Hays Fellowships. Matthew's dissertation, currently titled “Cultivating Transnaational Identity: the Luo Union in Twentieth-Century East Africa,” investigates the evolution of Luo identity in East Africa through the history of an ethnically based social welfare organization. Katherine's dissertation, “Contested Codes and Conflicting Justice: the State and the Supernatural in Colonial Kenya,” examines how crimes related to supernatural beliefs challenged various forms of state authority from the early colonial period through the Mau Mau era.

2 Today Jogoo House is home to the Ministry of Education, the government office which receives research permit applications and issues research permits.

3 Archival staff have noted that substantial portions of the archive were either looted or destroyed by departing colonial officials. For details see J.J.M. Nyagah, “Speech by the Minister of Natural Resources on the Occasion of the Opening of the First East and Central African Archives Conference.” Inaugural Conference Proceedings. June, 1969. 2, cited in D.L. Newman, “The Kenya National Archives.” This short undated paper is available at the Institute for African Studies at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi.

4 For a more detailed look at the historical development of the KNA see ibid, and M. Musembi, Archives Management: the Kenyan Experience (Nairobi, 1985).

5 Although the KNA restricts its access to patrons over 18 years of age, many secondary school students frequent the KNA search room and use the space as a study area.

6 Archives in South Africa have played a significant role in providing information to the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. See Refiguring the Archive, ed. Hamilton, Carloynet al. (Cape Town, 2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 See Maupeu, Hervé, “Enterrement des Big Men et Nation Kenyane” in Droz, Yvon and Maupeu, Hervé, eds., Les Figures de la Mort à Nairobi: une Capitale sans Cimetières (Paris, 2003), 231–63Google Scholar; and Cohen, David William and Odhiambo, E.S. Atieno, The Risks of Knowledge: Investigations into the Death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990 (Athens, 2004)Google Scholar.

8 For foreign researchers looking for accessto KNA documents in the U.S., the Center for Research Libraries, Syracuse University, and Michigan State University offer large collections of microfilmed colonial documents. For a guide see Gregory, Robert G., Maxon, Robert M., and Spencer, Leon P., A Guide to the Kenya National Archives (Syracuse, 1968)Google Scholar.

9 The British Institute in Eastern Africa: www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/eafrica/. Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique: www.ifra-nairobi.net.