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No Way Back – Reflections on the Future of the African Photographic Archive

Abstract: The article examines from a global perspective the phenomenon of digital photographic archiving and questions its impact on African archives both on the continent and outside it. The authors deal with the multi-layered consequences of information technologies for African photographic archives, asking to what degree they have connected Africa to the world. They consider too how much access they have given Africans to materials that were previously either unknown to them, or beyond their reach. Finally, the article explores how much opportunity digitization offers to agents of African photographic archives, empowered by technological developments.