African Literary Metadata
MENU

Activities

You can follow the activities and developments of the ALMEDA project here.

Case Studies: these have two major functions in ALMEDA. First, researchers collect data for inclusion in the database. The materials they collect are also used to model the ALMEDA ontology, which will make it easier for similar materials to be included in this and other databases in future.

Database Development: the work on creating the ontology for our database is a major part of the ALMEDA project. Here subject specialists in African literature work in close conversation with metadata and information scientists and with research engineers.

Our database work can be also followed directly and commented on our ALMEDA project site in Wikidata.

Events: ALMEDA is a project that requires extensive networking and close collaboration with numerous experts in a wide range of African literatures and languages. Our events will be mainly aimed at extending this network and in opening discussions with experts across the continent. Information about our online seminar series, ALMEDA: method and theory, will also be posted here.

Case Studies

Sankoré Magazine, Mali

La revue malienne _Sankoré_ pourrait être considérée comme reflétant un processus de valorisation des langues et littératures africaines dans le cadre du projet de décolonisation des années 1970. Sankoré – une revue de vulgarisation scientifique avec, entre autres, des sections consacrées aux nouvelles, légendes, proverbes, poèmes, devinettes, est un produit…

Read more

Zonk! African People’s Pictorial

The South African magazine, Zonk! African People’s Pictorial, ran from August 1949 until June 1964, during which time it published 298 literary works, predominantly short stories and photo plays. The rise of the popularity of the photo play in the 1960s is evident in Zonk!, which began publishings 23-page photo…

Read more

Case Study: Zimbabwean Theatre Manuscripts

In August 2023, Ashleigh Harris partnered with ALMEDA researcher Pedzisai Maedza (University College Dublin), Nkululeko Sibanda (University of Pretoria), and Kelvin Chikonzo (University of Harare) to catalogue the manuscript collection of Rooftop Productions’ Theatre in the Park, directed by Daves Guzha. In addition to cataloguing the 253 manuscripts in Rooftop…

Read more

Case Study: Staffrider Magazine

Staffrider was a South African literary magazine that ran in 37 numbers from 1978 to 1993, published by Raven Press, Johannesburg. The magazine has been digitised and made freely available by Digital Innovation South Africa at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (see the full collection here) The ALMEDA project is…

Read more

Database Development

Data modelling: Edi Ganzel’s serialised Swahili novels

Edi Ganzel was a prolific writer of serialised novels in late 1960s and early 1970s Tanzania. Ursula Oberst has been using his work in Kenyan magazine Taifa Weekly to model serialised fiction in our metadata ontology. Give her feedback and see her current modelling on our Wikidata project site. Image:…

Read more

Collaboration: Poetry Africa

Poetry Africa is an annual international poetry festival curated and presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban each year during October. The festival features Spoken Word & Publish Poets in performances and dynamic engagements which includes panel discussions, campus and school visits, poetry exchanges, book…

Read more

Events

Lecture: Afrikaaps and the Literary Archive, Riaan Oppelt

Join us for the next lecture in the ALMEDA seminar series! Riaan Oppelt (Stellenbosch University) will be talking about his case study for ALMEDA. The lecture will be held on Zoom: Time and Date: Tuesday 15 October, 15:15 – 16:30, CEST, online.Zoom Link: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/9544610031

Read more

ALMEDA Kick-Off Meeting, 13–14 May 2024

ALMEDA was officially launched with a meeting of all team members and some of the members of our distinguished advisory board. We were also joined by Tinashe Mushakavanhu, who presented a lecture titled ‘Metareading a Country’, in which he spoke about the value of “rogue archival” methods, which create “interference”…

Read more

Events: African Digital Humanities Symposium, Accra 15-16 February 2024

ALMEDA is proud to co-sponsor this year’s African Digital Humanities Symposium, Digital Humanities, African Stories and Agency organised by Brian Rosenblum and James Yékú of the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Kansas. The ALMEDA team will also partner with Karen Ijumba (Poetry Africa, Open…

Read more

Events: Researching Ephemerality – The Street as Archive. November 1–3, 2023. Machakos University College, Kenya.

In November 2023, ALMEDA team member Nicklas Hållén co-organized a PhD and M.A student workshop at Machakos University with Dr. Charles Kebaya (postgraduate co-ordinator in Literature and Cultural studies, Machakos). The workshop was sponsored by ALMEDA, STINT, Karlstad University and Machakos University, and brought together 14 students for a three-day…

Read more