Sources for African History

The project Fontes para a História de África aims to help publicise and disseminate sources, i.e. materials that help us understand the dynamics of transformation and evolution of societies in Africa. This project favours materials that were at one time associated with people’s daily lives, such as newspapers, one-off publications, photographs, letters, loose papers, as well as posters and pamphlets.

It won’t be irrelevant to emphasise the importance of this project, since, as much or even more than the documentation produced by state administrations, newspapers and loose papers are particularly perishable assets – whether due to the fortunes of life or the weight of political drifts and conjunctures – that need to be safeguarded. By way of illustration, one of the digitised newspapers –
Presence of São Tomé and Príncipe
– has been rescued from its fate as wrapping paper. To some extent, these materials provide us with points of support for explanations and, equally, help us to understand the almost immovable gap between idealisations of the future and political and social drift. They are therefore reminders of the need for critical reflection on the historical knowledge produced.

For historical reasons, which are readily apparent, the collections dealt with already concern Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Angola, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe. However, we don’t rule out dealing with and valorising documentation relating to other societies in Africa. In line with a notion of historical knowledge that is at once rigorous, open and shareable, CH-ULisboa will make the most of the collections made available to it for digitisation and publicity, making them accessible to people interested in the history of their lands and communities, as well as to the entire scientific community.

Não será irrelevante frisar a importância deste projecto, porquanto, tanto ou até mais do que a documentação produzida pelas administrações estatais, jornais e papéis avulsos são bens particularmente perecíveis – seja pelos sortilégios das vidas, seja pelo peso das derivas e conjunturas políticas – que importa salvaguardar. À guisa de ilustração, refira-se que um dos jornais digitalizados – Presença de S. Tomé e Príncipe – foi resgatado do seu destino de papel de embrulho. Nalguma medida, esses materiais fornecem-nos pontos de apoio para as explicações e, de igual modo, ajudam-nos a entender o quase inamovível fosso entre as idealizações do futuro e as derivas políticas e sociais. Logo, não deixam de constituir como lembretes para a necessária reflexão crítica sobre o conhecimento histórico produzido.

Por razões históricas, facilmente intuídas, os espólios tratados desde já respeitam a países de língua oficial portuguesa, nomeadamente Angola, Guiné-Bissau e São Tomé e Príncipe. Porém, não descartamos tratar e valorizar documentação relativa a outras sociedades em África. Em congruência com uma noção do conhecimento histórico a um tempo rigoroso, aberto e partilhável, o CH-ULisboa valorizará os espólios colocados à sua disposição para efeito de digitalização e de publicitação, tornando-os acessíveis às pessoas interessadas na história das suas terras e comunidades, assim como a toda a comunidade científica.

Open access publication of Hugo de Azancot de Menezes’ personal documents – including letters, photographs, diaries, travel records, receipts, newspaper cuttings, notes, manuscripts, printed matter and others – courtesy of the family, as well as the respective PIDE file, courtesy of the ANTT. It also includes documents provided by the Tchiweka Documentation Association. It also has the military file of Ayres Azancot de Menezes, provided by the Military Historical Archive. CH-ULisboa thus aims to help preserve the memory and knowledge of the trajectory of this founder of the MPLA, a very active figure in the process of fighting for and consolidating Angola’s independence. Coordination: Augusto Nascimento.