About

Project Overview

Catalyzing African Community Archives for Social Good is developing a reciprocal partnership between the University of Illinois, African archivists, and international knowledge management organizations. The partnership will foster the preservation of modern documentary materials, enabling Africans to tell their stories in their terms. Within a project governance model that centers African voices, the team is co-developing training materials to help community members produce and preserve archival documentation. The project will host a forum at the University of Illinois in May 2025 to help finalize training materials that can be used in African communities. These materials will be used in ‘Train the Trainers’ sessions in Ghana, Kenya, and Botswana, supporting community champions, indigenous knowledge holders, and African partners to digitally preserve and provide access to indigenous knowledge on topics like food production, ecosystem preservation, climate change mitigation, peace building, and reconciliation. Overall, the project seeks to develop shared communities of practice, positioning African partners to use their knowledge and records to improve social good, while decolonizing preservation resources previously developed in the global North. Long term, we will pursue projects that preserve records documenting the rising African continent and indigenous knowledge practices, to support sustainable development and democratic governance.

Project Goals

CACASG aims to promote epistemic justice, focusing on ensuring that all knowledge—especially from marginalized communities—is valued and shared. It recognizes that knowledge shapes empowerment and disempowerment, and addresses the exclusion of knowledge from the Global South, Indigenous communities, women, and youth.

Key goals include:

• Supporting Epistemic Justice: Ensuring diverse knowledge systems, particularly Indigenous and African knowledge, are included in global conversations.
• Decolonizing Knowledge: Challenging the historical and ongoing exclusion of non-Western knowledge systems, aiming to reshape the global knowledge landscape.
• Fostering Collaboration: Strengthening partnerships between Africa and the global North to share knowledge and build capacity across regions.
• Digital Preservation: Exploring how to digitally preserve community archives and Indigenous knowledge while addressing the impacts of knowledge colonization.
• Empowerment through Training: Providing training for African community leaders and knowledge holders to improve their skills in knowledge management and archival practices.

This project builds on existing efforts in countries like Kenya, Ghana, and Botswana, amplifying them on a larger scale through North/South partnerships, aiming to preserve and share African heritage for future generations.

Presentations