Harnessing the Generational Capacity of Oral History in Africa

Writing about the philosophy of Black Aesthetics, Paul Taylor argues that since ‘hegemonic conceptions of sex and gender’ were ingrained in the colonial project, ‘the convergence of nationalism and patriarchy thus indicate the incompleteness of the decolonizing project’. In line with Taylor’s position, this stream comes as a sequel to the cultural heritage project ‘History of Ordinary People in Africa (HOPIA)’, to create space for reflecting on critical approaches to history. In particular, it aims to explore disruptive and inclusive historical methods within post-colonial Africa using oral history. ‘Ordinary’, as used in the project, connotes the less dominant, less visible, and less ‘powerful’ actors, who are nonetheless active agents within their environment and have shaped the process of social change. The project consisted of a series of historical exhibitions highlighting how African people, particularly women have navigated post-colonial disruptions.

To conceptualise the project itself, we found value in Stuart Hall’s idea of ‘assembly’ as a useful approach in putting together family histories that transcended national, generational, and regional boundaries. Hall considers it a way to collate elements of history, ‘not as a unity, but in all their contradictory dispersion’. Through ‘assembly’, we presented the lives of marginalised African people as a ‘constitutive element in the fabric of the wider world of ideas, movements, and events’. We hope these contradictions can open new horizons in producing knowledge about Africa.

We welcome contributions from researchers, practitioners, and community builders, not only those within the HOPIA project but also any oral history work on Africa. The stream will provide an avenue to critically explore innovative and ethical ways in which oral history is contributing to disruptive and inclusive historical methodology. While not exclusively, we hold particular interest in the ‘history from below’ approach which can range from doing history on a personal level (such as workplace histories, and family histories) to working with communities external to scholars.

Convenors: Dr David Damtar, Oxford University (david.damtar@oriel.ox.ac.uk).
Cynthia Kwakyewah, York University (amakwa@yorku.ca).
Dr Temitope Ajileyey (temitope.a@live.it).