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Asylum Courts, Transnational Petitioning, and Digital Dispersal in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2020

Benjamin N. Lawrance ,
Erin B. Corcoran  and
Louise Hooper
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Abstract

Asylum court records are a potentially important evidentiary basis for postcolonial African history. Asylum-seeking is a contemporary transnational iteration of a rich African petitioning tradition. In the contemporary era, the digitization of court records, and their dispersal as a function of the shifting division of work between ministries, courts, and related bureaucracies, presents a challenge to researchers. Digital record keeping may improve accessibility, but only if researchers are familiar with the technology and archival methods and practices accompanying digitization.

Résumé

Résumé

Les archives des cours du droit d'asile constituent une source potentiellement importante pour l’histoire africaine postcoloniale. La recherche d’asile est une nouvelle manifestation transnationale d'une longue tradition de déposition de pétitions en Afrique. Aujourd’hui, la numérisation des archives judiciaires et leur dispersion en fonction de la division du travail entre ministères, tribunaux et administrations compétentes constituent un défi pour les chercheurs. La conservation d’archives numériques peut améliorer l’accessibilité, mais uniquement si les chercheurs connaissent les technologies ainsi que les méthodes et pratiques d'archivage accompagnant la numérisation.

Type
Archives and the Digital Turn
Information
History in Africa , Volume 47 , June 2020 , pp. 243 - 267
Copyright
© African Studies Association, 2020

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