Concluding Workshop for Nordic Africa Institute’s Documentation Project

During 2003-2009 the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) received financial support from the Swedish Foreign Ministry to identify archives in the Nordic countries that cover documentation on anti-apartheid resistance and the liberation struggles in Southern Africa, mainly South Africa and Namibia, during 1960-1990.

On 26 and 27 November 2009, a concluding workshop was held in Pretoria, South Africa at the University of South Africa. It was organized by the Nordic Africa Institute. The workshop started on a welcome note with a briefing on the objectives of the workshop by Proscovia Svärd, Co-ordinator of the Nordic Documentation Project. After this, the Director of the Nordic Africa Institute, Ms. Carin Norberg gave a welcome speech to the participants. After the Director’s speech, the former Swedish Ambassador to South Africa, Mr. Anders Möllander presented the keynote speaker, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka former Deputy President of South Africa. Thereafter the workshop sessions started and themes such as 'The History and Narratives of the Liberation Struggles", "Challenges, Opportunities of Digitization and Issues of Access", "The Liberation Struggles and the Generation of New Knowledge", "The Liberation Struggles, Reconciliation and Human Rights" and "Historical sources and Historiography of the Liberation Struggles", as well as the way forward were discussed.

The workshop brought together social science researchers working on the history of the liberation struggles, activists, documentalists and policymakers from South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.