The Sudan Memory project seeks to conserve and promote valuable cultural materials from and about Sudan through digitisation and via an online platform. Throughout the country, many interesting and rich archives are at risk for a number of reasons: extreme weather conditions, lack of appropriate storage conditions, neglect and conflict. Many public and private collections are also locked away and not easily accessible.
The Sudan Memory project mission is to help preserve these archives and their stories, so that current and future generations can benefit from this precious and important heritage. This work falls within KDL’s Indigenous Digital Humanities Research Theme.
KDL's involvement is principally through advising the project team to support the development of the Sudan Memory digital resource, providing targeted expertise in specific areas where the needs of the project meant that website development was best handled by other teams. The Lab also takes part in broader discussions around sustainability of the Sudan Memory website and future projects that are being developed from the work already undertaken to capture and preserve Sudanese heritage. This kind of low-level, targeted support for major projects allows partners to access KDL’s expertise on projects which don’t require more extensive involvement from the Lab.
KDL’s contribution around archiving and sustainability, as well as data sovereignty has helped focus discussions on these topics, especially in these times of conflict. These discussions are also central to the related Unhousing Restitution (UNREST) project in which KDL is collaborating with Prof Erica Carter, in the Film department, to again provide expertise for a major project.
Team
- Arianna Ciula KDL Research Software Analyst
- Badreldin Omer Elhag Musa Co-Investigator, Sudanese Association for Archiving Knowledge
- Marilyn Deegan Principal investigator, FAH Department of Digital Humanities
- Mohamed Azrag Saeed Abutem Co-Investigator, National Record Office of Sudan
- Samantha Callaghan KDL Research Software Analyst
- Ussama Abdelwahab Elrais Co-Investigator, Africa City of Technology