Primary Sources: Africa: General Sources

"Africa Focus brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary resources: research and teaching materials collected by University of Wisconsin faculty and staff; and unique or valuable items related to these fields held by the University of Wisconsin Libraries. "

"...is a portal to multimedia collections about Africa. MATRIX, working in cooperation with the African Studies Center at Michigan State University, is partnering with universities and cultural heritage organizations in Africa to build this resource. " Includes video and audio interviews on a variety of topics.

The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University maintains a comprehensive collection of posters published in Africa and elsewhere. The posters provide a unique resource to carry on research in a broad range of disciplines by consulting the visual image created by governments (independent and colonial) and international agencies, as well as political, labor, social, religious, educational and cultural organizations. On this web site, 366 posters, selected as a representative sampling of the collection, are available for searching and viewing. Description from site

"The African Studies Collection brings together primary and secondary resources; research and teaching materials created by University of Wisconsin faculty and staff; and unique or valuable items related to this field held by the University of Wisconsin Libraries."

"Explore incredible photographs spanning over 100 years of African history, from the 1860s onwards, taken from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office photographic collection (CO 1069)." U.K. National Archives

"The Community Video Education Trust (CVET) in Cape Town is building a digital archive of videos taken in South Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The raw footage available on this website documents anti-apartheid demonstrations, speeches, mass funerals, celebrations, and interviews with activists. Videos capture the activism of trade unions, students and political organizations, including the activities of the United Democratic Front. "

"Dr. Harold Scheub is the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities in the Department of African Languages and Literature and one of the world’s leading scholars in African oral traditions and folklore. To record oral traditions he has walked more than 6000 miles through South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho. Dr. Scheub has published more than two dozen books and more than 70 articles.

The Harold E. Scheub Collection includes the following digital resources:
Images
Sounds
South African Voices"

"This is a collection of primary source documents related to the conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia in the late 1970s (also known as the 1977-1978 Ogaden War or the Ethiopian-Somali Conflict). During this period, the Somali people in Ethiopia wanted to join with Somalia. The resulting crisis is discussed at length, as well as the later Eritrean Liberation Movement. The documents are from Bulgarian, German, and Russian archives, and focus on the years of 1977 and 1978. They include numerous memorandums and reports concerning relations between Africa and countries such as the Soviet Union, the US, and Cuba. Later documents cover Ethiopian relations with the Eritreans, the role of the US in Africa, and the US Operation Torch."

"On this site historical sources on the history of human societies in the continent of Africa are presented, when available, without making prejudgements about what is "African". "

"...features 32 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library and the Library of Cheick Zayni Baye of Boujbeha, both in Timbuktu, Mali. The manuscripts presented online are displayed in their entirety and are an exemplary grouping that showcase the wide variety of subjects covered by the written traditions of Timbuktu, Mali, and West Africa."