AO: An important point made by the authors is the importance of careful consideration of who is driving the creation and maintenance of the archive. Who is assembling and curating the materials and for what purposes? This is particularly important in postcolonial contexts which, as the authors highlight require scholars to overcome the traces of colonialism that persist through forms of knowledge production.
"From its inception, in late 2003, one overarching principle has guided “Struggles for Freedom.” For the project to be successful, local scholars had to play the leading role in shaping and directing it, creating its intellectual architecture and filling it with meaningful content. Any other formulation was untenable on intellectual or political grounds, and would forfeit the opportunity to bring the public debate on archives and access to information in some parts of southern Africa to bear on the need for writing postcolonial histories. The term postcolonial here recalls the need for scholars to overcome the traces of colonialism and apartheid that persist through forms of knowledge production." (page 59)
