LDS Materials for the Study of Postcolonial Sub-Saharan Africa

• Published in: The International journal of African historical studies Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 301 - 310
• Main Author: Hurlbut, D. Dmitri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Boston University African Studies Center 01-01-2019; Boston University
• Subjects: African history; Archives & records; Civil service; Civil war; Coups d'etat; Government employees; Historians; Journalists; Politicians; Postcolonialism; Research Note; South Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa
• ISSN: 0361-7882; 2326-3016

Historians trying to write the history of postcolonial Africa are hindered by an absence of documentary materials in conventional national archives. Not only were their holdings ransacked following military coups and destroyed during the civil wars that erupted across the African continent in the years after independence, but also many departmental and ministerial records never even made it into national archives in the first place.29 Today many departments are not even required by federal law to transfer their records to the national archive, and many civil servants actively destroy or hoard records out of fear that journalists and security forces might use the information in archival documents to damage the careers of politicians.-10 The majority of African state archives are also understaffed, underfunded, and poorly managed.