After the fire: loss, archive and African studies

• Published in: Social dynamics Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Jethro, Duane, Karina, Alírio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 02-01-2024; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Africa; African studies; Archive; Archives & records; Fire prevention; Fires; Grief; Housing; Jagger library; Libraries; Library collections; loss; University of Cape Town
• ISSN: 0253-3952; 1940-7874
• DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2024.2333213

A devastating fire destroyed the University of Cape Town (UCT) Jagger Library in April 2021, housing UCT Libraries Special Collections and its African Studies print collections. It triggered an outpouring of grief and concern about irrecoverable archival loss of material that carried the designation "African Studies." This article challenges this perception of the disaster and its significance for African Studies. Moving away from a negative emphasis on loss, it takes a sensitised position that recognises the possibilities for a reconceptualisation of archives, loss and African Studies presented by the fire. It critically reconsiders the relationships between archives, loss and African Studies by taking seriously how archives are permanently marked by the absence of losses that precede and coincide with their production and remain in a state of decay. Building upon a symposium raising these issues, the questions that guide this article and the eponymously titled Special Issue are: What happens when we take the notion of loss seriously as a path for thinking through archives and their relationship to African Studies as a field? How might we read points of connection and disjuncture between the management of archival loss on the continent and the historical losses that structure African Studies?