Monthly Archives: July 2006

Historian as Snoop: Experiencing the Archive

Posted on July 31, 2006 by Timothy Burke

[cross-posted at Cliopatria] One thing that I think historians bring to the academic table is their experience of working with archives of all kinds. Lots of scholarly disciplines are involved in going to libraries and databases for their evidence, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 2 Comments

Good Quote, Bad Quote

Posted on July 31, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Another ongoing feature, an off-shoot of working through my library. I’m going to try and post up interesting short quotations from works. Mostly “good quotes”, but if I come across awkward, reprehensible, or annoying quotes, I’ll slap those up as … Continue reading →

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From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves of Professor Timothy J. Burke

Posted on July 31, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I’ve promised (threatened?) to do something like this before, but I’m really committed now. I’ve been meaning to sit down with my bookshelves and go through them very seriously, to re-examine books I’ve read in the past and read newer … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 6 Comments

Homeward Bound

Posted on July 25, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Sitting in Heathrow now, short wait this time, thank God. I have a long entry on the use of archives waiting in my drafts box, but it’s going to take about a day once I get home to get the … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | Comments Off on Homeward Bound

Thumbs on the Scale

Posted on July 23, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I’m catching up now with events in Lebanon. Every single time I have travelled to southern Africa, a major Middle Eastern crisis has begun right after I arrived. I realize that given how often such crises unfold, that’s roughly like … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 7 Comments

From the Archives

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Timothy Burke

British South Africa Police, March 31 1952 Security Branch Memorandum No. 64 Report on a meeting of Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia Congress members in Que Que reserve, March 23rd 1952, about 24 people “The following points will serve to illustrate … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | Comments Off on From the Archives

From the Archives

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Marwick Papers, File 10. Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban. Chief C.J.L. Kekana to J.S. Marwick, May 2nd 1901 “Honourable sir I am from home Now I let you know that my place is not realy saved Sir I beg you … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | Comments Off on From the Archives

Whigging Out

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Timothy Burke

A lot of people were wondering, in the aftermath of the investigation into Ward Churchill, about whether many scholarly works have the same kind of dubious manipulations of evidence when examined closely. Quite a few people inferred from the apparent … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 2 Comments

Dear Diary

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Bill Tozier recently wrote about archives and historians, about the difference between researchers who are alive doing scholarly work in simultaneous relation to other researchers who are alive, on topics that are being produced as knowledge in the here and … Continue reading →

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More From the Archives

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Timothy Burke

British South Africa Police, Security Memorandum on Native Affairs No. 67, June 27 1952. “It has been reliably reported that the following conversation took place between a European lady sales assistant and an African in a bookshop on the 19th … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | Comments Off on More From the Archives