The George Padmore Institute is hosting the following lectures in July:
4th July, 19:00-21:00hr - David Hilliard, "The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service 1967-1980"
9th July, 19:00-21:00hr - Carole Boyce Davies, "Left of Karl Marx: the Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones"
23rd July, 19:00-21:00hr - Colin Grant, "Negro with a Hat: the Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey"
More information about these, and other, events is available from the George Padmore Institute website. Enquiries may be directed to info@georgepadmoreinstitute.org.
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Friday 20 June 2008
SCOLMA Conference 2008
Last week’s SCOLMA conference focused on two projects, the Endangered Archives and Endangered Languages projects.
The Endangered Archives Programme, funded by Arcadia (formerly the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Trust) provides grants, administered by the British Library, to safeguard archival material at threat of being lost or destroyed. Archives have been defined widely to include rare printed sources (books, serials, newspapers, ephemera, etc.), manuscripts in any language, visual materials (drawings, paintings, prints, posters, photographs, etc.), audio or video recordings, digital data, and other objects and artefacts - but normally only where they are found in association with a documentary archive. The programme provides pilot project grants to investigate, survey collections and assess the feasibility of projects, as well as major research project grants which provide for surrogate copying and cataloguing of collections.
We heard from two projects that had been funded – David Zeitlyn talked about archiving a Cameroonian photographic studio; that of the studio photographer Jacques Touselle, with a collection of about 40,000 negatives; and Dr Siddig Elzailaee, discussed the endangered archives of Sudanese trade unions, 1899-2005. Both projects were extremely interesting and the talks revealed the risks archive collections face, as well as the richness of the content made available through these projects. Other countries in which projects have been funded include Tuvalu, Nigeria, India, East Timor, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, Nevis, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Jamaica. Details of the programme and projects funded can be accessed at http://www.bl.uk/endangeredarchives
The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project, also funded by Arcadia, is hosted at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies. Presentations by Prof Peter K. Austin and Dr Friederike Luepke, gave an overview of current research on endangered languages, and a case study of the Bainouk language in Senegal. It was enlightening to hear how attitudes to languages, the social spheres in which languages are used, and trends towards moving to cities impacted on indigenous and ancestral languages. The website for the project is available at: http://www.hrelp.org
The Endangered Archives Programme, funded by Arcadia (formerly the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Trust) provides grants, administered by the British Library, to safeguard archival material at threat of being lost or destroyed. Archives have been defined widely to include rare printed sources (books, serials, newspapers, ephemera, etc.), manuscripts in any language, visual materials (drawings, paintings, prints, posters, photographs, etc.), audio or video recordings, digital data, and other objects and artefacts - but normally only where they are found in association with a documentary archive. The programme provides pilot project grants to investigate, survey collections and assess the feasibility of projects, as well as major research project grants which provide for surrogate copying and cataloguing of collections.
We heard from two projects that had been funded – David Zeitlyn talked about archiving a Cameroonian photographic studio; that of the studio photographer Jacques Touselle, with a collection of about 40,000 negatives; and Dr Siddig Elzailaee, discussed the endangered archives of Sudanese trade unions, 1899-2005. Both projects were extremely interesting and the talks revealed the risks archive collections face, as well as the richness of the content made available through these projects. Other countries in which projects have been funded include Tuvalu, Nigeria, India, East Timor, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, Nevis, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Jamaica. Details of the programme and projects funded can be accessed at http://www.bl.uk/endangeredarchives
The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project, also funded by Arcadia, is hosted at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies. Presentations by Prof Peter K. Austin and Dr Friederike Luepke, gave an overview of current research on endangered languages, and a case study of the Bainouk language in Senegal. It was enlightening to hear how attitudes to languages, the social spheres in which languages are used, and trends towards moving to cities impacted on indigenous and ancestral languages. The website for the project is available at: http://www.hrelp.org
Wednesday 18 June 2008
SCOLMA conference and ALUKA, online African resource
SCOLMA: The UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa had its annual conference last week. One presentation was from conference sponsor ALUKA, an international, collaborative initiative building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa. The name, ‘Aluka’, derives from a Zulu word meaning ‘to weave’, reflecting Aluka’s mission to connect resources and scholars from around the world.
The ALUKA resource contains digitised content from Africa and elsewhere in three content areas or themes:
The ALUKA resource contains digitised content from Africa and elsewhere in three content areas or themes:
- African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes
- The African Plants Initiative
- Struggles for Freedom in Southern Africa
The resource includes a wide variety of material, including photographs, letters, published works, illustrations, site plans, rock art images, maps, articles, plant specimens, oral testimonies, personal papers and newspaper reports.
Access from UK universities is free until the end of June: http://www.aluka.org/
ALUKA logo reproduced with permission
Monday 9 June 2008
Theses in Progress in Commonwealth Studies 2008
The 2008 edition of Theses in Progress, the Institute's annual listing of Commonwealth studies-related doctoral research currently being undertaken at universities throughout the UK, is now available to download.
This list of current MPhil and PhD research is derived from the Register of Commonwealth Research, a database of theses completed or in progress. The Register contains over 16,000 records dating back to the 1920s and may be accessed via SAS-Space, our institutional repository. Its geographical coverage comprises the former British Empire (excluding the United States), the Commonwealth and its non-UK member countries, and former British Protectorates. The subjects covered are history, politics, sociology, anthropology, economics, geography, literature, language, and religion. Education, medicine, law, science, and technology are included on a selective basis.
Data for the Register are obtained from a variety of sources, such as printed lists, univeristy annual reports, information posted to university websites, and correspondence with university registrars and academic supervisors throughout the UK. This correspondence is of great importance in ensuring that coverage is accurate and as broad as possible.
Anyone currently undertaking doctoral research that fits with the scope of the Register is very welcome to contact us to ensure that it is included by emailing commonwealth.register@sas.ac.uk
This list of current MPhil and PhD research is derived from the Register of Commonwealth Research, a database of theses completed or in progress. The Register contains over 16,000 records dating back to the 1920s and may be accessed via SAS-Space, our institutional repository. Its geographical coverage comprises the former British Empire (excluding the United States), the Commonwealth and its non-UK member countries, and former British Protectorates. The subjects covered are history, politics, sociology, anthropology, economics, geography, literature, language, and religion. Education, medicine, law, science, and technology are included on a selective basis.
Data for the Register are obtained from a variety of sources, such as printed lists, univeristy annual reports, information posted to university websites, and correspondence with university registrars and academic supervisors throughout the UK. This correspondence is of great importance in ensuring that coverage is accurate and as broad as possible.
Anyone currently undertaking doctoral research that fits with the scope of the Register is very welcome to contact us to ensure that it is included by emailing commonwealth.register@sas.ac.uk
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