'We are not going to prosecute you, we want your records and stories': Filling apartheid gaps in the public memory of the Namibian struggle for independence

Namhila, Ellen Ndeshi

IFLA Council and General Conference / .
(ReLIS:jul:juljin:6644)

Abstract:

Namibia gained independence in 1990 after over 100 years of colonial rule and a prolonged and bitter liberation struggle. The National Archives of Namibia has been tasked to recover evidence of this historical past, by identifying and repatriating archival records which are scattered worldwide, and by collecting oral evidence on the country’s liberation struggle which has not been documented. The paper examines the difficulties encountered and the problems of documenting a violent past while at the same time promoting peace and reconciliation. In countries like Namibia, where the wounds of a violent past are still fresh, collecting memories of the people who were involved in controversial acts is a delicate task. However, the Namibian AACRLS (Archives of Anti-Colonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle) Project under the auspices of the National Archives of Namibia is going to do it, with respect to those who want their stories to be protected and out of the public sphere for the next decades. How do we solve this matter? How to get the history collected, but kept closed from access for a certain time, while on the other hand there are legitimate demands not only by historians who want to do academic research, but also by victims or their families? What about opening wounds again while one of the cornerstones of the peaceful development of Namibia since its independence 13 years ago is the policy of national reconciliation without settling old scores? And what about civil society demands for open access to information? To strike the delicate balance between these antagonistic demands remains a challenge.

Creation: 2003
Keywords: Países en desarrollo ; Africa ; Libertad de información ; Postcolonialismo

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