Elitism in critical emancipatory paradigm: national archival oral history collection in Zimbabwe and South Africa

National archives, national memory? How national archives describe themselves and their mission

There is a widespread notion that archives, especially national archival institutions, represent the nation’s memory. Historically, archives have played an important role for history writing, thereby contributing to the construction of national master narratives and the strengthening of national identities. What the association between archives and memory actually means is however debated in archival literature. Taking the discussion on the relation between archives and memory as a starting point, this study examines how national archives in today’s world present themselves to the public. The source material consists of mission statements collected from 138 webpages and 18 Facebook accounts all over the world. The first research question concerns the connection between mission statements and a national master narrative, the second asks where references to national memory and national identity are most pronounced, and the third asks whether self-images of national archives can be connected to historical experiences. The analysis shows that mission statements contain many allusions to history and heritage, while references to memory and identity are less widespread than expected. Some variations between continents, and between different groups of countries are identified, although relatively small. A possible explanation is that national archives are engaged in quite a lot of international cooperation, for instance in the International Council on Archives and UNESCO. Thus, they are likely to be as much influenced by each other as by the political environment in their own countries.

Transcending the colonial worldview to establish a research paradigm through an African lens: Analysis of research modules in archives

Since the emergence of postcolonialism, there has been a call for epistemic decolonisation in the African scientific community. Paradigmatic backgrounds are key to defining belief systems that guide research investigations – not only in choice of approach, but also in the contextualisation and execution of research designs. Researchers’ limited understanding of these philosophical backgrounds and the way in which they can transcend towards decolonised research, inhibits researchers’ exploration of the deeper meaning of and commitment to research in the postcolonial context. This paper aims at contextualising the decolonisation of Eurocentric paradigms towards the transcendence of a new worldview that is relevant and unique to the African context. This is done through the analysis of two research methodology modules in Archival Science at an open distance e-learning institution. The genesis of postcolonial research, which lies in replacing dominant “truths” with marginalised “truths”, aims at rearticulating power, change and knowledge through a multiplicity of epistemologies, ontologies, and axiologies. By applying a postcolonial research paradigm, research can be used as a way of expanding knowledge and creating new knowledge as a starting point of epistemic decolonisation. This article contributes to the dismantling of the old order of research paradigms by exploring the transcendence of existing research paradigms and suggesting a research paradigm that provides a lens through which the postcolonial African scholar can conduct the search for truth in the field of Archival Science. However, it should be noted that, even in critical emancipation, there will still be elitism.