Supply a Fair and Transparent Access to a shared Heritage - the 'Africa Archives' - to implement Decolonised Research about Belgian colonisation in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi (1885-1962)

Coordination centre(s)

Centre de recherches en histoire du droit, des institutions et de la société (CRHIDI).

Description

This FED-tWIN profile aims at taking advantage of the relocation of ‘Africa archives’ to AGR-ARA (State Archives in Belgium) and USL-B (Université Saint-Louis – Brussels) expertise in colonial history in order to enable Belgian, Congolese, Burundian and Rwandan societies to reconnect with their colonial past. The project consists of four WP. One work package (WP) is assigned to each unit. In WP1, the FED-tWIN researcher will increase the accessibility of ‘Africa archives’ by writing new finding aids (mainly inventories and databases), by retro converting old ones and by revising the conditions for consultation. WP2 is dedicated to the digital repatriation of these archives and the transfer of knowledge about those. The researcher will prepare this repatriation by removing diplomatic, technical and ethical obstacles that could hinder this transfer. The ‘Africa archives’ constitute a unique heritage. However, this collection does not contain all the archives of Belgian colonisation. In WP3, the FED-tWIN researcher will search the colonial archives remaining in Central Africa to repatriate a digital copy to Belgium. They will also complete this collection by collecting oral testimonies from European and African colonisation actors. WP4 is a transversal WP focused on communication and dissemination of project results to an audience of historians and archivists, to an audience of citizens and to an audience of students.

Director(s)

TOUSIGNANT Nathalie, TALLIER Pierre-Alain.

Keywords

Belgian Congo / Archives.

Research staff

PIRET Bérengère.