Author Archives: Timothy Burke

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 →

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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 →

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Today’s Fun Quote From the Archives

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Timothy Burke

March 6, 1953. British South Africa Police, Security Branch Memoranda on Native Affairs. Memorandum Number 75. “VICTORIA FALLS Three letters were found in the Victoria Falls area recently. One envelope bearing Northern Rhodesia postal stamps was addressed to the MAOTSE … Continue reading →

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You Have No Idea

Posted on July 19, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Margaret Soltan in the last couple of months has sometimes posted links to stories about the wretched state of many European university systems once you go below the level of the elite few institutions at the pinnacle of a given … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 2 Comments

Correctness and Knowledge

Posted on July 19, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I’ve made it clear that I don’t have any respect at this point in my life for most forms of identity politics, which I think is a broader and more potent term than “political correctness”. Occasionally, however, I’m reminded of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Miscellany | Comments Off on Correctness and Knowledge