INTEGRATING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IN ETHIOPIAN

Title

INTEGRATING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IN ETHIOPIAN See all items with this value

Description

African Study Monographs, Suppl.41: 5-18, March 2010 5INTEGRATING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IN ETHIOPIANARCHIVES:MUSIC AND MANUSCRIPTS IN THE COLLECTIONOF ABDULAHI ALI SHERIFBelle Asante TARSITANIGraduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto UniversitySimone TARSITANIDepartment of Music, The Open University, UKABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, important examples of Harari tangible and oral culturalheritage were preserved in the private home museum of Abdulahi Ali Sherif in Harar, Ethiopia.The volume and quality of audio recordings of musical and ritual practices, along with themanuscripts from this collection indicate how a resourceful individual, when supported by acommunity of local patrons, can be instrumental in conserving heritage in a local archive, evenin the absence of major funding sources. This case study presents a review of Mr. Sherif’smuseum collection and explores pertinent challenges in conservation and curatorship of theprivate holdings. Having followed the transformation of the collection to a public-privatepartnership,the authors consider the wider implications of collaborations in the managementof archives in regional museums in Ethiopia. This research employs examples of various formsof documentation used in the analysis of local Islamic ritual practices to show that local actorsare integral to the sustainable management of archives. The collaborations involving thecollectionof music and manuscripts in the Sherif collection are presented as exemplary of howa community-run museum project can be a particularly appropriate and accessible venue toengage audiences in the legacies found in archives.

Identifier

39

57

Uploaded Date (Original EH)

2017-02-07

Uploaded By (Original EH)

adminss

Date

2010 See all items with this value

Author

Belle Asante Taristani, Simone Taristani See all items with this value

Type

Articles