Redefining Archives in South Africa: Public Archives and Society in Transition, 1990–1996
Abstract
For South African archivists, both as South Africans and as archivists, the period 1990-1996 was at once exciting, frightening, and enriching. A fledgling democracy, with all its growing pains, supplanted the apartheid regime. At the same time a sterile, outmoded archival discourse was vanquished by a successor born of and connecting assuredly with the new societal dynamics. This article provides an account of the transition, with a focus on the sphere of public archives. It begins with a brief analysis of public archives under apartheid. It then explores transformation discourse--one informed by the assumption that archives require redefinition, more precisely reinvention, for a democratic South Africa--firstly from the perspective of process, secondly in terms of the core issues which occupy it. The article's final section offers an assessment of the present position and some thoughts on the future.
RÉSUMÉ
Pour les archivistes sud-africains, à la fois comme Sud-Africains et comme archivistes, la période 1990-1996 en fut une passionnante, menaçante et enrichissante. La démocratie naissante, avec ses douleurs de croissance, évinçait le régime de l'apartheid. À la même époque, un discours archivistique stérile et périmé était vaincu par un successeur et assurément relié à la nouvelle dynamique sociétale. La présent article décrit cette transition, en mettant l'accent sur le domaine des archives publiques. L'article débute avec une brève analyse des archives publiques sous l'apartheid; on y explore ensuite la transformation du discours--en suivant l'hypothèse que les archives nécessitent une redéfinition, plus précisément une réinvention pour une Afrique du Sud démocratique--d'abord dans la perspective d'un processus, ensuite en termes des questions principales. La dernière partie de l'article offre une évaluation de la situation actuelle et quelques réflexions pour l'avenir.
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