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Research Protocol and Resources in Burundi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Nancy Hunt
Nancy Hunt*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Extract

Information on the existence and resources of African libraries and archives is scanty at best, and the scene changes quickly. No one has attempted to assemble a list for researchers of such institutions and resources in Burundi since 1974, when Daniel Nyambariza provided a list of documentation and research centers and other adresses intéressantes as a preface to his bibliography. No doubt once a very useful list, much of Nyambariza's information is now obsolete. The present report, based on my experiences conducting urban, social history research in Bujumbura in 1984/85, is intended to provide specific information on gaining access to and the availability of documentary sources in Burundi. Private and public libraries and archival locations are included.

I have tried to describe Burundi's archival situation from my own experiences as well as from printed information, not all of which I was able to verify. Although there probably exists some small area of duplication between the colonial records held in Brussels at the Archives Africaines and those to be found in Burundi, most of Burundi's archives--particularly low-level, local governmental records--can be assumed to be unique. Although most printed sources are usually more readily available in European or American libraries, I have assumed that a descriptive list of libraries would be an aid to other researchers and have tried to indicate rare and/or locally–generated publications and documents. At the close I have also assembled a list of other potential research locations which I did not visit personally owing to time constraints and the scope of my research.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 14 , 1987 , pp. 399 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1987

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References

Notes

1. Nyambariza, Daniel, Le Burundi: Essai d'une bibliographie, 1959-1973 (Bujumbura, 1974), 11–18.Google Scholar

2. Curtin, Philip, “The Archives of Tropical Africa. A Reconnaissance,” JAH, 1(1960), 141–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. For more information on the sources of this and other Belgian archives see Dickerman, Carol and Northrup, David, “Africanist Archival Research in Brussels,” HA, 8 (1981), 319–22.Google Scholar The location of the Archives Africaines has changed since 1981, however; it is now located in the main building of the Ministère des Affaires étrangères, 2 rue Quatre Bras. The reading room is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM-noon and 1:30–4:30. Although a fifty-year rule is still in effect, one may request special permission from the Commission Diplomatique to consult records which are thirty to fifty years old. Permission is usually granted but it is advisable to seek this in advance. A guide to the holdings is available; see van Grieken-Taverniers, Madeleine, La colonisation belge en Afrique centrale: Guide des Archives Africaines du Ministère des Affaires Africaines, 1885-1962 (Brussels, 1981)Google Scholar, and her Supplément au Guide des Archives Africaines, 1885-1962, published in 1983. Send inquiries to the very helpful, present archivist, Mile Christine Somerhausen.

4. “Study Sessions on African Historical Archives,” UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries, 20 (November-December 1966), 327Google Scholar; and “Burundi,” Archivum, 22/23 (1972/1973), 162.Google Scholar

5. Staes, Jacques, Burundi: Développement des services des Archives nationales (Paris, 1978).Google Scholar

6. M. Bugwabari's postal address is Département des Archives Nationales et de la Documentation, B.P. 1095, Bujumbura. The office in Rohero n is located (I believe) on rue de Kunkiko between Boulevard de l'Indépendance and Avenue de Muyinga.

7. Faye, Bernard, Burundi; Construction d'un bâtiment pour les archives nationales (Paris, 1982).Google Scholar

8. The text of the law can be found in ibid., 47–50. For recent information on the status of African archives and archivists see Evert Van Laar, The Status of Archives and Records Management Systems and Services in African Member States: A RAMP study, prepared [for the] General Information Programme and UNISIST (Paris, 1985); and Jacques d'Orléans, The Status of Archivists in Relation to Other Information Professionals in the Public Service in Africa.: A RAMP study, prepared [for the] General Information Programme and UNISIST (Paris, 1985). Van Laar's report gives data on legislation, access regulations, personnel, buildings, storage facilities, equipment, holdings, operations, and services for 27 African countries, including Burundi.

9. Staes, , Burundi, 6.Google Scholar According to Chrétien, the order which was established was completely destroyed in order to protect the materials from the infiltration of water; see Faye, , Burundi, 3.Google Scholar

10. Dickerman, Carol, “Economic and Social Change in an African City: Bujumbura, Burundi, 1900-1962,” (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1984).Google Scholar

11. These and the previously mentioned references to Faye may be found in his Burundi, 5–7.

12. On its history see Mununi, H., “Bibliothèque de l'Université Officielle de Bujumbura (Burundi),” SCAVI [Standing Committee on Africa University Libraries] Newsletter 6, (1971), 15–19.Google Scholar The 1980 statistic is from The African Book World and Press: A Dictionary (Munich, 1980), 9.Google Scholar

13. Kinigi, , “Burundi” in ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services (Chicago, 1980), 105.Google Scholar

14. Université du Burundi, Bibliothèque Centrale, Catalogue des publications sur le Burundi disponibles à la Bibliothèque de l'Université du Burundi. Première partie: les ouvrages (Bujumbura, 1984).Google Scholar

15. Guillet, Claude, “Liste des enregistrements effectués par le Centre de Civilisation Burundaise (1977-1982),” Culture et Société 6 (1983), 110–16.Google Scholar

16. Although the Library of Congress contains incomplete sets of three colonial newspapers, the only post–independence newspaper it possesses is Le Renouveau. See Pluge, John Jr., African Newspapers in the Library of Congress 2d ed. (Washington: Library of Congress, 1984), p.9.Google Scholar

17. Nyambariza, , Burundi, 15.Google Scholar

18. A list compiled by Herman Mununi in August 1984, however, does not include the public library, while it does mention the ISCAM library. The only library listed as being operated by the Ministère de l'Education Nationale is the Commission Nationale pour l'UNESCO; see Herman Mununi, Université du Burundi, Bibliothèque Centrale à tous les Responsables des Bibliothèques et Centres de Documentation du Burundi, 6 August 1984, 84/B.134/9. For the guides which erroneously include the public library in their listings see Kinigi, Firmin, “Burundi,” 105Google Scholar and Zell, Hans M. and Bundy, Carol, eds., The African Book World and Press: A Directory, (2d ed.: Oxford, 1983), 13.Google Scholar

19. Regarding the holdings of the White Fathers' Archives in Rome see Dickerman, Carol W., “On Using the White Fathers' Archives,” HA, 8(1981): 319–22.Google Scholar

20. Père Gobert was, in fact, a principal resource as Rodegem compiled his bibliography, still the most comprehensive bibliography available on Burundi and the only one which attempts to include Kirundi–language materials. Rodegem, F., Documentation bibliographique sur le Burundi (Bologne, 1978).Google Scholar

21. Faye, , Burundi, 46.Google Scholar

22. Mununi, “Bibliothèque.”