DISA Digital Archive
DISA is a sociopolitical archive that houses material primarily within 1950-1994 and it aims to illustrate South Africa’s struggles for freedom during this period. An array of archival material, including audio, video, written, and oral histories are located in this digital archive. DISA’s partners include: Aluka, University of KwaZulu-Natal, National Library of South Africa, University of Witwatersrand and Cape Town, Rhodes University in Grahamstown, The South Africa History Archive, and The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. These organizations contribute to the digitization and the selecting process of the material. DISA aims to provide a digital archive that promotes both the spread of knowledge between researchers, but to also teach local institutions how to collect their own material and how to maintain both a physical and digital archive. This archive has a committee that oversees the selection of new additions within the archive. Its organization promotes the sharing of knowledge, as it provides the researcher with a variety archival materials as well as links to other archives and publications.
The archive provides both archival material from its partner organizations as well as material that is house in its specialized collections. The archive has 5 special collections including: the Alan Paton Collection, the Campbell Collection, The Centre for African Literary Studies, Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre, and the Indigenous Knowledge Collection. In order to look at the specific collections it is best to go directly to them using the browse tab, and click on them. If the researcher has a specific keywords to look for, it is best to use the search engine rather than the content filter tab. Often times the content filter tab shows that there are no results compared to the search tab, even when looking for the same keywords. The material is organized by collection, and by the type of media it is (in order to find this function it is best to specifically click on browse content). This archive is excellent for students who would like to analyze more unconventional material types. It is also great for students who would like to focus their research on the politics of the anti-apartheid struggle and for those wanting to research through anthropological, audio-visual materials can be a way to achieve this. The links tab is an excellent way to find other archives. It can be used as a starting point for research or an extension of it. It has links to more general resources, giving background information, but it also encourages research in other archives. The archive format has merits in that it can facilitate both the access to archival material as well as an overall comprehension of struggles in Africa. The versatility in the types of media they house allows researchers of all backgrounds to find pieces that help their understanding. DISA’s organized platform does in fact allow for a more equalized access to knowledge. Its appeal to both beginning and highly experience researchers encourages a redefinition of Africa’s history by acting as a safe discursive space primarily for South African Liberation Struggles.
Further research using this archive was compiled in terms of the collections the material belong in. The Alan Paton Collection provides correspondence, articles, and publications by the author and politician, thus using his background student and researchers can investigate the following topics: Looking at party politics during apartheid and the anti apartheid movements, using the creation of the Liberal Party of South Africa (LPSA). The material of the Campbell collection housed many types of craft and photographs therefore it would be useful in: Comparing South African on what photography depicted as daily life prior to and during 1950-1994. This is an excellent opportunity to synthesize archival material from two sources. The Centre for African Literary Studies mainly houses a collection of biographies on authors that wrote during liberation struggles, therefore it would be appropriate to investigate: How was literature used to aide the anti-apartheid movement? How was this literature treated domestically and internationally? The Gandhi-Luthuli collection provided insight into South African and Indian corporations before and during apartheid, therefore this collection can be used to: Further research on the Third World Project. How did foreign support of anti colonialist and anti-apartheid struggles help South African movements and political parties? Lastly, the Indigenous Knowledge collection has its own separate archive that can provide more insight into the merits of indigenous knowledge. Once the researcher has enough knowledge on this, they can use this archive to investigate: How can an understanding and consideration for indigenous knowledge systems help African governments and foreign political actors construct a path for development?
The archival piece that was chosen for this presentation was the piece “Towards and Afrocentric Approach to Psychiatry.” The piece “Towards and Afrocentric Approach to Psychiatry” is an editorial piece housed in the Indigenous Knowledge Systems collection of DISA. The merit in this piece is that it highlights how a lack of cultural considerations and understandings in psychiatry has created an unintentional divide between patients and doctors. Although this is not directly in the realm of African politics, it constructs a metaphor for Africa’s modern struggles with achieving stability, development, and democracy. As Professor Lamla Mkize puts it “The best psychiatry possible provides expert scientific diagnosis and therapy in the light of an appreciation of the role played by cultural factors in shaping human behavior.” In the same way, only developmental policies that are constructed to suit the cultural understanding of individuals will be successful.
Mazrui and Waife-Amaoko in African Institutions assert how a major obstacle in achieving stability is that many African individuals begin to ask questions such as “Why are leaders more powerful than we expected them to be?” (Mazrui 4). This question is a prime example of how a rejection or disregard for indigenous knowledge can portray nations in Africa as vulnerable and incapable of achieving stability, and development
If a definition of stability, development, and even democracy does not consider the cultural basis of a nation it will always portray that nation as incapable, thus progressing a discourse that only makes us more ignorant of the conditions of African than more informed.
Indigenous Knowledge can be defined as knowledge that comes from sources outside of information from the senses or reason that can be directly supported by scientific understandings. The archival piece asserts that and Afrocentric approach to psychiatry must “have explanations for the high prevalence of crime” and “should inform the government and society about human behavior and societal response to a transition from oppression to freedom.” Thus, if in psychiatry the value of indigenous knowledge systems is being considered, and is being valued as one of the only approaches to get to the find causes for crime and under development, then it is only appropriate that it is also used in policy making.
