Making Uganda’s Intellectual History Digital:  Knowledge Preservation and Ethical Considerations

1. Abstract

My DH project is an open access digital archive of primary sources and supplementary materials in African intellectual history.This archive serves as a repository for endangered documentary materials and as an exhibition to curate and display the intellectual history of Uganda. This archive will bring together scattered sources into one easily accessible online resource. For my dissertation digitizing pieces of intellectual history fosters discussion about the life cycle of documents, and what happens to sources when they are transferred from one medium to another. My thesis deals with themes of translation and the transition from oral to written culture, as well as what happens to the colonial archive and the dissemination of colonial knowledge when sources are made open access online. This project's mandate is to contribute to decolonizing the archive and bridging the “digital divide” between the West and Africa in computing access and capabilities.