Makers and Shapers Profile

Five Hundred Year Archive (FHYA)

Research Project

Fl. 2012 - present

[Source - Debra Pryor for FHYA, 2022: The Five Hundred Year Archive is a project of the NRF Chair in Archive and Public Culture, based in the History Department, University of Cape Town (www.apc.uct.ac.za). It seeks to stimulate engagement with the neglected eras of the southern African past before the advent of European colonialism. Enquiry and research in this area is hampered by the absence of accessible archival material. Researchers can make use of materials found in museums and a variety of other places that are not regarded as "archives", but the material in these other places is often misidentified, undated, and misplaced. Much is fragmented and dispersed across the world. Some of it, like archaeological material, is difficult for non-archaeologists to gain access to. These are the kinds of challenges that the FHYA project addresses. It aims to develop and promote understandings of the archival possibilities of materials located both within and outside of institutions and to facilitate their engagement. The FHYA locates these materials, places them in the kind of archival framework that readies them for use in thinking about the remote past, augments the archival framework and then makes them accessible online. The FHYA began in 2015 and today consists of two exemplar projects: the 500 Year Archive and EMANDULO. The project team currently comprises: Prof. Carolyn Hamilton, Dr. Grant McNulty, Debra Pryor, Chloe Rushovich, Benathi Marufu, Henry Fagan, Vanessa Chen, Dr. Ettore Morelli, Steven Kotze, Mwelela Cele, Lucienne Argent, and maintains an ongoing collaboration with Prof. Hussein Suleman at the Department of Computer Science at UCT. Contributors and students that FHYA has commissioned for project research and development over the years includes: Prof. John Wright, Nessa Leibhammer, June Bam-Hutchison, Kathrine Garrun, Rosemary Lombard, Rifqah Kahn, Renate Meyer, Lauren White, Karusha Govender, Patricia Liebertrau, Ruth Muller, Kevin Carnie-Thompson, Sizakele Gumede, Gavin Whitelaw, Justine Wintjes, Chiara Singh, Len van Schalkwyk, John Parkington, Tim Maggs, Sarah Shaefer, Christian Mpazayabo, Johnathan Wagener, Jo-Anne Duggan, Nina Liebenberg, Nick De Greef, Deon Schreiber, Michele Hause, Emily Krige. Queries regarding the FHYA project or its contributors can be directed to 500yeararchive@gmail.com.]