News
In this news section you will find Archival Platform announcements. You can also download Archival Platform newsletters.
Archival Platform October Newsletter
Download the Archival Platform October Newsletter .
Dear Colleagues
The excitement of Heritage Month may be over, but ideas about our heritage are still bubbling on the Archival Platform. Our guest blogs this month reflect on the ways in which we shape our understandings of the past, both through academic analysis and government intervention. We have a commentary on heritage, identity and racial nomenclature from historian Enocent Msindo. This is timely, as the question of race and racism is a key issue in recent public debate. We also have a guest blog on questions of human rights and cultural practice, in relation to traditional male circumcision. This theme will be followed up next month with a commentary by a traditional circumcision practitioner. Finally, we have a guest blog on South Korean heritage policy, discussing how government encouragement of local heritage affects public appreciation of it. This month we also have lots of input from readers, including several meeting reports and book reviews.
There are other reasons to celebrate in October. We celebrate the Unesco World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on October 27 and the non-governmental campaign âStand up 2009â, from October 16-18, encourages us to act against poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals.
Finally, the Archival Platform is pleased to announce the appointment of four part-time researchers to assist in its work for the next year: Uthando Baduza, Xolelwa Kashe Katiya, Kirsten Thomson and Thokozani Mhlambi. Youâll be hearing more from them.
With the setup phase of the platform completed, weâre also advertising for a full-time director to start next year. In January, current director Harriet Deacon will be relocating to the UK for a few years. She will stay in touch with the work of the Platform online and expand our networks abroad.
See the job advert on our website.
Also, now you can vote in our poll about camera use in archives:
http://www.archivalplatform.org/
The Platform belongs to all of you â both regular readers of the newsletter and visitors to the website â so send us news and reports, comments and guest blogs, as well as ideas for action in the sector.
Dr Harriet Deacon
Director, Archival Platform
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
NEWS
Stand Up 2009 campaign
Being active citizens requires that we take action for what we believe in. On October 16-18, people in all provinces in South Africa will participate in the Stand Up and Take Action campaign, the largest global citizen action to raise awareness about poverty and the Millennium Development Goals.
Documentary shorts series launches
The Centre for Popular Memory has started work on a new series of documentary shorts, This I Remember. These five-minute shorts are a collection of peoplesâ stories, compiled from interviews conducted with people who live in Cape Town. Raylaine Hendricks and Esther Mtini are the first two shorts in the series and focus on forced removals from Harfield Village in 1969 and the political unrest in the townships in the late 1970s.
They have been uploaded to YouTube and can be viewed at the following site addresses:
Project to turn local craft initiatives into viable businesses
On September 23, the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and Old Mutual joined forces to form the DAC-OM Legends Programme. The programme aims to provide a platform that will turn local craft initiatives into viable businesses. The partnership was formed through the merging of the DAC Investing in Culture programme and the Old Mutual Legends Programme. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding to seal the partnership at the Protea Hotel in Polokwane.
for the Ministerâs speech at this event.
Padraig OâMalley resource now online
The Heart of Hope website, an archival resource that is the product of almost two decades of research by the Irish writer and academic Padraig OâMalley, is now being hosted on the Nelson Mandela Foundationâs website.
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/padraig_omalley/
History Archive has new website
To mark International Right to Know Day 2009, the South African History Archive has relaunched its website,
Luxorâs Valley relics returned to Egypt
On October 9, France announced it would return five relics stolen from Egyptâs Luxorâs Valley of the Kings and sold to the Louvre. The announcement came two days after Cairo severed ties with the Paris museum in protest.
World Heritage Sites face underfunding and professional staff shortages
Underfunding and shortage of professionals are the main hurdles facing conservation of World Heritage Sites in sub-Saharan Africa, according to experts.
Kenya: museums alert over Lamu land allocations
The National Museums of Kenya is compiling a list of people allocated land in a water catchment area in the Lamu World Heritage Site. Director-general Omar Farah says Lamu Island is at risk of losing the only source of fresh water if allocations in the 982ha land at Shella are not nullified.
Slave route museum inaugurated in Matanzas, Cuba
The Atlantic slave trade forms an essential part of the history of Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas. A new museum on this shared history has been opened in Cubaâs San Severino Castle.
Zimbabwe crisis chronicled in stone at sculpture colony
Farm workers and artisans on a farm near Harare are carving stone figures that reflect the experiences of Zimbabweans, the Mail & Guardian reports.
Sweden cuts down on culture and development
Swedish development agency Sida has dissolved the Department of Culture and Media as part of a restructuring effort. Itâs unclear whether the agencyâs cultural support in developing countries will be affected.
Contacts: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Survey to understand transnational cooperation
The Fitzcarraldo Foundation is finalising a qualitative survey aimed at understanding how the policies of European and non-European foundations concerning transnational cultural cooperation have changed in the past five years.
Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Google digital library plan opposed by Angela Merkel
The Mail & Guardian reports that German chancellor Angela Merkel said her government opposed Googleâs drive to create online libraries full of scanned books.
OPPORTUNITIES
Masters, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships
The programme on the study of the humanities in Africa at the University of the Western Cape invites suitably qualified candidates to apply for masters, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships for the 2010 academic year.
Fellowships at UJ
The University of Johannesburg offers research fellowships for recently qualified PhDs in the humanities. The closing date is November 6, 2009.
Museum and heritage studies diploma/MA at UWC
The University of the Western Cape is offering a postgraduate diploma in museum and heritage studies and an MA degree with a specialised stream in museum and heritage studies. Applications are now open for 2010.
Australian graduate programme in liberal arts, cultural and environmental heritage
The Australian National University offers an exciting suite of graduate awards in cultural and environmental heritage: graduate certificate, diploma, and masters and masters (honours) degrees.
Fellowship for women scholar-practitioners
The Campbell Fellowship will support a female social scientist from a developing nation, either pre- or postdoctoral, whose work addresses womenâs economic and social empowerment in that nation.
Postdoctoral fellowships: Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Programme
Applications are invited from nationals of non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for a number of postdoctoral fellowships in the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Programme.
Unesco international chair for performance in cultural industries
Unesco has announced the creation of a new international chair for performance in the cultural industries, as well as a laboratory for cultural innovation for developing countries.
Creative Africa Network mobility grants
Creative Africa Networkâs mobility grants are designed to allow artists to travel to major international events they are taking part in.
More information:
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/mobility_grants/
Contact: Christine Eyene, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
CONFERENCES and MEETINGS
Report: World Summit on Arts and Culture
Johannesburg, South Africa
September 22-25, 2009
The summit, co-hosted by the National Arts Council of South Africa and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), attracted 450 delegates from 70 countries; 250 delegates were from Africa and represented 31 countries â the highest ever for a World Summit.
Report: Mike van Graan on the World Summit on Arts and Culture
This is the final reflection on the Fourth World Summit on Arts and Culture by Mike van Graan, programme director of the Summit. The views are not necessarily those of the World Summit organisers.
Report: SA National Trust consultation
This consultative meeting on the idea of forming a National Trust in South Africa was held in Johannesburg on September 5, 2009.
Report: U40 Africa Network meeting
The U40 World Forum (June 12-14, 2009) brought together 50 professionals under the age of 40 from all over the world to discuss proposals on how to implement the 2005 Unesco Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The first meeting of the U40 Africa chapter was held in Pretoria on September 22, 2009.
Report: NMF workshop on the Protection of Personal Information Act
On September 30, 2009, the Nelson Mandela Foundation hosted a workshop on the proposed Protection of Personal Information Act at the Foundationâs offices. The aim of the workshop, according to the Foundationâs head of memory, Verne Harris, was âto determine what impact the proposed Act will have on archival and memory institutionsâ.
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/protection_of_personal/
Report: Abu Dhabi Intergovernmental Committee, 2003 Unesco Convention, 4COM
Archival Platform director Harriet Deacon reports on the intergovernmental committee, which she attended as an examiner of the Kenyan Mijikenda nomination file.
http://www.archivalplatform.org/resources/
Report: ACCU international partnership programme for safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage
Videos of the third training course of the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for Unesco Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage are available on the Archival Platform website. The workshop took place in Japan from July 15-22, 2009.
Conference: Challenges and opportunities of managing archives and records
University of SA, Pretoria
November 25-26, 2009
The South African Society of Archivists, in conjunction with the Department of Information Science at Unisa and the National Archives, will host a national conference of archivists, records managers and heritage personnel.
Conference: Beadwork in KwaZulu-Natal
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg
December 3-5, 2009
This conference hopes to bring together the work of scholars in the field who have focused on the role and significance of beads in the construction of cultural, national, and gendered identity in the region. It will be held at the University of KwaZulu-Natalâs Centre for Visual Art in Pietermaritzburg.
Call for papers: Voyage/Text
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
September 1-3, 2010
The organisers invite submissions that address the literature of maritime voyaging to build on the successful âStory of the Voyage Colloquiumâ held at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research in October 2008.
Conference: Belief narratives network
St Petersburg, Russia
May 17-19, 2010
The conference includes discussion of how belief narratives relate to politics, ideology and society.
Conference: History, memory and identity in Africa
Oran, Algeria
April 26, 2010
This symposium raises questions such as: Of what value are concepts like historiography, memory and identity in reference to Africa? How do we rehabilitate Africaâs past without shutting it out from the present and the future altogether? How do we reconcile our identities?
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/identity_in_africa/
Conference: Preserving Africaâs ancient manuscripts
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
December 17-19, 2010
This conference will set itself the task of analysing the most salient issues raised by Africaâs ancient written treasures and historical records. It is coupled with an exhibition on ancient manuscripts and writing.
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/ancient_manuscripts1/
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/ancient_manuscripts/
Conference: Preserving African cultural heritage
Dakar, Senegal
November 1-7, 2010
The jointly organised 13th Pan-African Association of Prehistory and Assimilated Disciplines and the 20th Society of Africanist Archaeologists conferences brings together members from these two organisations dedicated to preserving African heritage.
Conference: Cultural Trends
London, England
October 16, 2009
Cultural Trends, the journal that champions the need for better evidence-based analyses of the cultural sector, is delighted to announce that its second one-day international conference, Centre/Periphery: Devolution/Federalism, is now open to delegates.
http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/cultural_trends/
Conference: Cultural policy research
Jyväskylä, Finland
August 24-27, 2010
The 2010 International Conference on Cultural Policy Research aims to provide a space for exploration of cultural policies â their meaning, roles and impact â in an interdisciplinary and international environment.
Conference: Moving images of the British Empire
London, UK, July 8-9, 2010
Pittsburgh, US, September 25-26, 2010
âColonial Film: Moving Images of The British Empireâ is a major scholarly and archival project that investigates the history of moving images of the British Empire.
Conference: The world map of masks and symbols
Bangkok, Thailand
November 12-14, 2009
The International Mask Arts and Culture Organisation and the Thai Ministry of Culture intend to create a database of world masks and what they symbolise through the active exchange of information at the symposium.
Website:
Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Workshop: World oral literature project
Cambridge, England
December 15-16, 2009
This workshop aims to discuss strategies for collecting, recording, preserving and disseminating oral literatures and endangered narrative traditions.
ARCHIVAL PLATFORM BLOG
The politics of memory
As memory workers, we have to represent the past in very self-critical and self-aware ways. But we have a difficult mandate. On the one hand, we need to encourage the broadest possible public dialogue and debate about often traumatic pasts. On the other hand, we are aware of the need to foster social cohesion and reconciliation, and to play a role as social activists.
These issues were raised at the recent Oral History Association of South Africa conference in Cape Town, titled the âPolitics of Collecting and Curating Voicesâ. This conference comes at an important time in South Africaâs national journey, as we revisit some of the ethical and political issues that we papered over in 1994 in the quest for a ârainbow nationâ and âreconciliationâ.
GUEST BLOGS
Naming the African: questions of identity, tradition and history
Enocent Msindo argues in our guest blog that colonialism is often represented as summarily replacing existing African systems with invented artificial ones. But where the does the debate about hybridity and changing African traditions feature in debates about the naming of Africans?
Culture: a blanket of thorns
Thando Mgqolozana, author of the controversial novel, A Man Who is Not A Man, reflects on the tension between cultural practice and human rights in traditional African male circumcision. The debate is an important one, albeit a sensitive and difficult one, and it requires a considered response by the heritage and archive sector.
Reflections on South Koreaâs 1962 heritage scheme
Roald Maliangkay talks about the success of South Koreaâs comprehensive heritage scheme, which emphasises safeguarding folk traditions through designation and financial support.
RESOURCES
Commentary /review: Derrida and Harris on the archive
Kylie Thomas, National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative at the University of Cape Town, discusses Jacques Derridaâs Archive Fever, psychoanalysis and the archive, and Archives and Justice by Verne Harris.
New book: The I Stories: Polygamy â the Heart of the Matter
Gender Links announces the launch of The I Stories: Polygamy â The Heart of the Matter. The book contains a series of personal accounts of women and men who have been in polygamous unions or are children of such families.
Research: World Heritage status and economic gain
âWorld Heritage status: is there an opportunity for economic gain?â analyses the socio-economic impact potential of Unesco World Heritage Site status.
Conference papers: (Un)Loved Modern Conference
Papers and presentation slides for most of the presentations at the recent (Un)Loved Modern Conference held in Sydney, Australia, are now available online from the Australia Icomos conference website.
See
Review: Saharan Rock Art: Archaeology of Tassilian Pastoralist Iconography
Holl, Augustin F C. Saharan Rock Art: Archaeology of Tassilian Pastoralist Iconography. Lanham: Altamira Press, 2004. Reviewed by Mark D DeLancey for H-Net Reviews. Read the full review .
Review: An Archaeology of Black Markets
Hauser, Mark W. An Archaeology of Black Markets: Local Ceramics and Economies in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008. Reviewed by Audrey R Dawson for H-Caribbean. Read the full review .
Review: Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora
Ogundiran, Akinwumi and Falola, Toyin (eds) Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2007. Reviewed by Paula V Saunders for the African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter. Read the full review .
Article: How helpful is cultural diplomacy?
An opinion piece on the Huffington Post on September 21 argues that while other countries â China and Great Britain, for example â have been active exporters of their arts, the US government has been reticent to invest in this form of diplomacy.
Creative industry as a revenue generator
Nigeriaâs creative industry has yet not been fully tapped to yield its best for the nationâs economy. One man who feels strongly about this is AIG Frank Imuokhuede, a former editor of Nigeria magazine and Director of Culture at the Ministry of Culture.
Source: The Guardian (Nigeria)
Report: Agenda 21 for Culture
The report shows how culture is being built into local development strategies designed to achieve the Millennium Goals. Creativity, diversity and heritage are values which are intrinsic to culture and nowadays are basic building blocks in any development strategy.
Papers: Icomos Scientific Symposium
Download papers from the symposium, which was held in Malta on October 7, 2009 and titled, âChanging world, changing views of heritage: The impact of global change on cultural heritage â Technological Change.â
Icomos Documentation Centre
Industrial and technical heritage in the World Heritage List:
Rock art sites in the World Heritage List:
World Heritage cultural landscapes:
World Heritage urban sites:
World Heritage in Africa:
Conservation of stone:
Industrial and technical heritage:
WHAT IS THE ARCHIVAL PLATFORM?
The Archival Platform is a strategic research, networking and advocacy initiative. We aim to promote collaboration and information sharing within the broad archive sector â including archives, museums and heritage, tangible and intangible â enabling effective dialogue between government, academics, practitioners and the public. Key areas of focus for the Platform in the medium term will include the economics of heritage, digitisation and use of digital tools in archives and heritage management, and heritage education.
Our networking efforts will reach out beyond South Africa, to elsewhere in Africa and other continents to expand this debate.
Entries for this newsletter come from lists such as South African History Online, the Southern African NGO Network, International Council on Museums and Sites (Icomos), Australia Icomos, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), International Council of Museums (Icom), Icom-SA, the International Council of African Museums (Africom), H-Net, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa (OCPA), Unesco Forum, the Getty Conservation Bulletin and your contributions.
Feel free to pass the newsletter on, and let me know if you donât want to be on the list.
The Archival Platform is funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, supported by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the University of Cape Town.
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Comments
I’m very intrested in how archival platforw is going to work. It looks like a very good idea.