ABSTRACT
It is important to establish how indigenous archives can be sustained for the restoration and preservation of hidden memories and to ensure continuity in their management. This chapter proposes a sustainable structure for the identified indigenous archives so that they can maintain their independence without relying much on mainstream archives. The assumption that will influence the shape of the sustainable structure is that, generally speaking, the indigenous peoples’ mistrust of state and institutional archives, demands for control of archives and legal actions for the destruction of records, and the establishment of autonomous archives, all contribute to the important and fraught process of decolonising settler colonial archives. In other words, this chapter takes note of those archives that are outside the mainstream archival setup and see how they can be integrated into a sustainable organisational structure. It should be noted that it is not always the case that community archives should be integrated into the national archival system, but where it happens, they should not be subjugated or swallowed. Therefore, this chapter takes that into account by presenting a structure that respects the independence of community archives. For indigenous archives to be preserved, all hands are needed on deck. Furthermore, governments in Africa, with the support from such continental institutions such as the African Union, need to encourage their populations to value themselves in terms of their African identity.
