Stolen archives? Re-evaluating the British 'migrated' archives and decolonisation

档案被盗？

• 批准号: AH/W011212/1
• 负责人: Tim Livsey
• 金额: $ 25.73万
• 依托单位: Northumbria University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FW011212%2F1
• 关键词: Stolen; archives; Re; evaluating; British

In 2009, five Kenyans - Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, Paulo Nzili, Wambugu wa Nyingi, Jane Muthoni Mara, and Susan Ngondi - brought a case against the British government regarding horrific abuse they had suffered from British forces during the 1950s. Pressed by the Kenyans' legal team, British authorities in 2011 admitted holding a large collection of documents that had been covertly removed from Kenya, and other former colonies. What the British government called the 'migrated' archives included around 20,000 files from a total of 37 territories. The revelations shocked many researchers and archivists. When most of the documents were made available to researchers at the National Archives in London from 2012 to 2013, it became clear that transfers of power to newly independent countries from the 1940s to the 1980s were routinely accompanied by large-scale processes of sorting, removing, and destroying documents.Given the renewed focus on histories of empire and their legacies for the contemporary world, interest in the British 'migrated' archives is now greater than ever. They have been referenced in Natasha Brown's 2021 novel about black British experience 'Assembly', Richard Ovenden's 2020 popular history of the suppression of knowledge 'Burning the Books', and in several documentaries available online. Yet there has been relatively little academic research about the 'migrated' archives relative to their importance for histories of decolonisation.This project will offer a major reassessment of this collection ten years after it was first made accessible in London. It will produce the first book-length study of the 'migrated' archives affair. A scholarly work aimed at a popular audience, the book will re-evaluate what the 'migrated' archives show about decolonisation. Arguing that many of the 'migrated' files would be better thought of as 'stolen', it will explore why and how British authorities removed and destroyed colonial documents from the 1940s to the 1980s. The book will consider how white British officials sought to keep this secret from colonised people, even those who would soon become the new leaders of independent countries. It will also analyse how British authorities attempted to keep the archives secret after their removal to the UK, often trying to conceal them from people of colour from formerly colonised countries, but sometimes granting access to white British researchers.The project will diversify debates about the 'migrated' archives. The removal of these documents to Britain, and British authorities' efforts to keep them secret from people of colour, have made it difficult for researchers based in the Global South to access the 'migrated' files. This project will deliver an innovative programme of mentorship to early career researchers based in Nigeria, making available digital images of the 'migrated' files to support their own research, and bringing important new perspectives to bear on debates about these archives.The 'migrated' archives story is also rarely taught in British secondary schools, despite its importance in understanding decolonisation and its legacies for contemporary Britain. The project will facilitate the co-creation of new teaching resources for schools about the 'migrated' archives. A-level students will work as 'interns' on the project, collaborating with Northumbria University student mentors and school teachers to analyse 'migrated' documents. The project will co-create teaching resources that will generate new conversations among young people about decolonisation.Overall, this project offers a timely, wide-ranging reassessment of the 'migrated' archives that will stimulate both public debate and academic research about these important documents.

2009年，五名肯尼亚人- Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua，Paulo Nzili，Wambugu wa Nyingi，Jane Muthoni Mara和Susan Ngondi -对英国政府提起诉讼，指控他们在20世纪50年代遭受英国军队的可怕虐待。在肯尼亚法律的团队的压力下，英国当局在2011年承认持有大量从肯尼亚和其他前殖民地秘密转移的文件。英国政府称之为“迁移”的档案包括来自37个地区的大约20，000份文件。这一发现震惊了许多研究人员和档案管理员。2012年至2013年，当伦敦国家档案馆的研究人员获得大部分文件时，人们清楚地看到，从20世纪40年代到80年代，权力向新独立国家的转移通常伴随着大规模的整理、转移和销毁文件的过程。鉴于人们重新关注帝国历史及其对当代世界的影响，对英国“移民”档案的兴趣现在比以往任何时候都大。他们在娜塔莎·布朗2021年关于英国黑人经历的小说《集会》、理查德·奥文登2020年关于压制知识的流行历史《焚书》以及几部在线纪录片中被引用。然而，相对于这些“迁移”档案对非殖民化历史的重要性，学术研究相对较少。本项目将在这些档案首次在伦敦开放十年后，对这些档案进行重大的重新评估。它将产生第一本书的长度研究的'迁移'档案事务。这是一部面向大众的学术著作，该书将重新评估“移民”档案所展示的非殖民化。认为许多“迁移”的文件将更好地被认为是“被盗”，它将探讨为什么以及如何英国当局删除和销毁殖民地文件从20世纪40年代到80年代。这本书将考虑白色英国官员如何试图向殖民地人民保守这个秘密，甚至是那些即将成为独立国家新领导人的人。它还将分析英国当局如何试图在档案被转移到英国后对其进行保密，通常试图向来自前殖民地国家的有色人种隐瞒这些档案，但有时会允许白色英国研究人员接触这些档案。该项目将使有关“迁移”档案的辩论多样化。这些文件被转移到英国，英国当局努力对有色人种保密，这使得南半球的研究人员很难访问这些“迁移”的文件。该项目将为尼日利亚的早期职业研究人员提供一个创新的导师计划，提供“迁移”档案的数字图像以支持他们自己的研究，并带来重要的新观点来影响有关这些档案的辩论。“迁移”档案的故事也很少在英国中学教授，尽管它在理解非殖民化及其对当代英国的遗产方面很重要。该项目将促进为学校共同创建关于“迁移”档案的新教学资源。A-level学生将在该项目中担任“实习生”，与诺森比亚大学的学生导师和学校教师合作分析“迁移”文件。该项目将共同创建教学资源，在年轻人中引发关于非殖民化的新对话。总的来说，该项目提供了对“迁移”档案的及时、广泛的重新评估，这将激发公众对这些重要文件的辩论和学术研究。