As this semester draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude and thanksgiving to God for inspiring the Jesuits to start the Historical Institute in Africa. For the past 13 years, this institute has supported the initiative to preserve knowledge about historical activities in Africa and Madagascar. To accomplish our goals, we collaborate with many institutions and organizations that, in one way or another, decide to actively participate in this endeavor because they recognize the importance of it and realize that JHIA’s purpose is fully dependent on the assistance of these other organizations and individuals. To preserve the historical memory of the people of Africa and its adjacent islands, JHIA has stratified its broad mission as follows:
- Collecting and preserving records on the religious traditions and cultures of Africa, including Islam.
- Documenting the evolution of Christianity on the continent, especially the role played in it by the Society of Jesus, other missionary societies, and African agents of evangelization.
- Making the collected information available to researchers from all academic disciplines.
We have continued to receive feedback from our partners and beneficiaries of our projects which is so encouraging and motivating even through the challenges, and difficulties including declining financial resources, JHIA still feels encouraged to keep preserving memory.
This Semester picked off with a Gathering of the Librarians on the 8th of August 2023 at JHIA that brought together several Christian Universities and colleges within Nairobi and its environs. We were privileged to have Dr. Scott Libson as the Archiving Address courtesy of Dr. Kyama Mugambi both from Yale Divinity School. The objective was to convene a roundtable discussion amongst librarians and archivists to address problems relating to both physical and digital libraries and archives. The topics of debate included data management, guidelines for the development of libraries and archives, funding for libraries, and the technology needed for archiving. Participants talked about benchmarking and best practices for African content in libraries. Due to popular demand, Tangaza University College and JHIA arranged a second gathering on November 24, 2023, as a culmination of the first one. A sizable number of Christian institutions were represented during the meeting, and they came together as a “Knowledge Sharing Forum for Christian Libraries and Archives.”
It is understood that conducting research broadens your knowledge base, provides you with the most recent and historical facts, enhances your reputation, and—above all—teaches you better discernment. A renowned Jesuit historian and researcher Rev. Dr. Festo Mkenda, SJ, the Academic Director at Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu (IHSI) of Rome recently released a book that made headlines in the Jesuit news desk following the introduction of A Splash of Diamond: The Jesuit Presence in Ethiopia from 1945 to Present, which is a joint publication by the IHSI of Rome, and the JHIA, Nairobi. This very book was also highlighted in the Café Engelbert Mveng (5th Café of Jesuit Historians) hosted by JHIA on the 5th of October 2023 and Hekima Research Week as the first book featuring in the series of IHSI Global, launched in 2023.
Works by Dr. Jean Luc Enyegue, SJ, will soon be added to the growing collection of Jesuit literary works. In collaboration with Langham Literature, he contributed to the book Africa Bears Witness, edited by Harvey Kwiyani and currently available under the Langham Global Library imprints. In preparation for publishing, he is currently reviewing book manuscripts of his writings as well as those of other Jesuits, such as Fr. Joaquim Zoundi, to mention a few. He recently participated in study weeks hosted by the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), the American Association of Church Historians, and Hekima Research Week, all of which he greatly contributed to. JHIA had planned a conference that did not materialize due to some logistical challenges on 20th September 2023 It was supposed to bring together the Network of Church Historians that the director met during his work trips and vacation and which was to discuss the organization of the Clergy. We shall be revisiting to see whether this can still be actualized in the coming semester.
Challenges Facing Higher Education in East Africa is another book that sparked positive feedback, written by Fr. Joseph Afulo, SJ, who is currently Vice Chancellor of Arrupe Jesuit University in Zimbabwe. The book explores the difficulties facing higher education in East Africa and provides readers with an international perspective that enables them to comprehend how local and global forces interact to shape the development of higher education systems in Africa. This 2023 edition was reprinted by JHIA.
JHIA’s monthly newsletter has been instrumental in running quick news and alerting Jesuits and other interested audiences of what is happening at JHIA and Jesuit fields.
JHIA took some time to hear from Ms. Jayne Pucknell, an archivist for the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection housed at Bristol Archives in the United Kingdom. She contacted JHIA since she is now cataloging a sizable collection that was once acquired from Dr. Tanner by a previous museum and given to them in 2012. Ralph Tanner’s belongings, some of which are housed in JHIA’s collections, span his career as a lecturer in the UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as his time spent in Burma and working in colonial administration in Tanzania and Kenya. Her curiosity was piqued as to what JHIA’s archives had regarding Ralph Tanner. She gave the JHIA team a thorough explanation of their sources and even displayed several audio cassettes. She dreams of sending the finished catalog to the JHIA archives one day.
JHIA has the intention of digitizing approximately 15,462 large format maps that Boston College donated for digital collection. The director of JHIA is currently seeking sponsors for this significant project because, once the maps are made public, the organization will have fulfilled its goal of providing researchers with access to information that it believes will be beneficial to relevant departments like the universities, airways, military experts, medical schools, the ministry of agriculture, mining, and natural resource, metrological, survey and mapping, the National Bureau of Statistics, and many more. As of right now, the assessment has been conducted to determine how much the entire project will cost; several specialists have already provided a financial cost estimate that will assist us in developing a proposal.
The overall acquisition is progressing nicely. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has contributed materials, and we urge them to do so even more because George Santayana – The Life of Reason, 1905 argues that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Conversely, according to the Bible, “the hand that gives, shall receive exceeding blessings” (notice that this is not a quote from me, but rather from the inspired word of God). Rev. Fr. Stephen Eyeowa, SJ, made the most recent contributions. He deposited a significant number of his insightful homilies that he has written over the years and which JHIA intends to post on its website portal, Jesuit Sources in Africa.
By Geoffrey Obatsa,
JHIA Administrative Assistant
