Asylum Courts, Transnational Petitioning, and Digital Dispersal in Africa. (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lawrance, Benjamin N.; Corcoran, Erin B.; Hooper, Louise
• Is Part Of: History in Africa. Volume 47(2020)
• Page Start: 243
• Page End: 267
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: Africa -- Historiography -- Periodicals; Africa -- History -- Periodicals; 960
• DOI: 10.1017/hia.2020.7
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0361-5413

Abstract

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.