Research Note: Mayibuye Archives and the Cold War in Southern Africa

ABSTRACT

Drawing from the author’s experience, this Research Note provides an overview of the University of the Western Cape Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archives. This archive is rooted in the liberation struggle in southern Africa and contains a considerable number of historical documents, oral histories and audio-visual materials documenting the global anti-apartheid movement. Located in Bellville, on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, the archive is easily accessible and well worth a visit from scholars of the Cold War in southern Africa, the global Black freedom struggle and international social movements.

KEYWORDS:

• Archives
• Sources
• Museums
• Anti-Apartheid
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Robben Island first opened to the public on 1 January 1997; André Odendaal, ‘Prologue’, in Robben Island Rainbow Dreams: The Making of Democratic South Africa’s First National Heritage Institution, ed. Neo Lekgotla Iaga Ramoupi et al. (Cape Town: BestRed, an imprint of HSRC Press, 2021), 1.

² Robben Island Museum, ‘Integrated Conservation Management Plan 2013–2018’. Available online: https://www.robbenisland.org.za/files/publications/Integrated%20conservation%20management%20plan%202/3%20Visitor%20Managment%20Plan%20DRAFT%2016jan13.pdf

³ André Odendaal, ‘UWC’s Mayibuye Centre: The Conceptual Base for RIM’, in Robben Island Rainbow Dreams, 19.

⁴ Sue Onslow, ‘Republic of South Africa Archives’, Cold War History 5, no. 3 (2005): 369–75; Robin Möser, ‘Researching the Global Cold War in South Africa’s Archives’, Sources & Methods (2017). Available online: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/researching-the-global-cold-war-south-africas-archives

⁵ Rheina Epstein, ‘UWC-Robben Island Mayibuye Archives’, Cape Librarian, Mar/Apr 2005, 44.

⁶ André Odendaal, ‘UWC’s Mayibuye Centre: The Conceptual Base for RIM’, in Robben Island Rainbow Dreams,26.

⁷ Anthea Josias, ‘From Mayibuye Centre to the UWC/Robben Island Mayibuye Archives’, in Robben Island Rainbow Dreams, 154.

⁸ The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Papers detail his work in and outside of South Africa.

⁹ Correspondence with André Mohammed, 5 April 2022.

¹⁰ Sound and Oral History Catalogue provided to author.

¹¹ Anthea Josias, ‘From Mayibuye Centre to the UWC/Robben Island Mayibuye Archives’, in Robben Island Rainbow Dreams, 177.