Prof. Spittler, as part of your Cluster project entitled “The pre-death bequest of Gerd Spittler” you process, document and store your collection of research material that you have accumulated in your impressive career spanning more than five decades. What made you decide to undertake this extensive project?
Prof. Spittler: My field research in Africa began in 1967, i.e. shortly after the independence of most African states. My research accompanies this historical development and examines it. At the beginning of my research, I interviewed old people who had still experienced the pre-colonial period and could talk about it. It seems important to me to store this research material. Through this project, the Cluster generously offered me the opportunity to recruit collaborators to edit the material and to travel to African and German institutions to discuss the archiving.
The research material will also be accessible in Africa. Another way to make research results accessible in Africa is teaching. I therefore regularly teach students in Niamey (Niger) and Sousse (Tunisia). Students from Niger helped to organize a Tuareg exhibition in Hersbruck’s Deutsches Hirtenmuseum. Others are enrolled in BIGSAS. Three of my students from Niamey and one student from Sousse are currently writing their thesis. Two have already completed their doctorates.
What kind of research material does this project entail? Does every last data make it into the collections or how do you make the decision of what to keep and what to toss?
My research material consists of three types: First, there is written material. This material comprises field notes of research in Niger and Nigeria from 1967 onwards and excerpts and copies from colonial archives in Niger. The texts will be digitised and stored on the collections website of the University of Bayreuth. The original analogue inventory will be stored at the University archive. The excerpts and copies from the colonial archives of the former Chef-lieus de cercle and Postes Administratives are largely material that is no longer available in the original.
Secondly, there is the video material consisting of about 6,000 photos taken between 1967 and 2006 in Hausa und Tuareg Regions in Niger and Nigeria. They document everyday life, work, material culture and the research on it. Like the written material they are digitised in collections@UBT. The original analogue inventory will be stored in the University archive.
A book with 300 Photos has just been finished: Gerd Spittler Leben mit wenigen Dingen. Der Umgang der Kel Ewey mit ihren Requisiten. Tübingen: Mohr und Siebeck 2023.
And last but not least there is the audio material. Most of the audio material (tapes and cassettes) are recordings in Hausa and Tamacheck. They also document everyday life and work. A special temporal depth, however, is achieved by the fact that interviews could be conducted with old people among Hausa in Gobir and Tuareg in Aïr who had still personally experienced the pre-colonial period before 1900. These oral testimonies can be confronted with written archival material.
All this material should not only become part of an European archive, but also of African institutions. My main focus is on institutions in Niger, where most of the research material was collected: IRSH (Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, University of Niamey Niger) and the community of Timia (Agadez region) which is planning to build a museum on the history and culture of the region. The extent to which and the form in which Spittlers research material should be included will be discussed with IRSH and leaders of the community of Timia.
The text-, video- and audiomaterial will be digitised, stored and made accessible on the collections website at UBT.There will be a selection of the material. Many of the field notes which have been processed and used in publications (books and essays) will not be part of the collection. Photographs and audiomaterial that do not contain much information will not be considered.
I insist that the original research material be stored at the archive of the University of Bayreuth. From my experience, digitisation is necessary for reasons we all know, but it alone is not sufficient for final storage. Digitization systems change frequently. To give an example: within ten years, my photo material has already experienced three digitization systems at Bayreuth university: first Lidos, then Faust and now easydb. The conversions were always labor-intensive and did not only bring gains, but were also associated with losses. I had similar experiences with my audiomaterial: from tapes and cassettes to minidisc to MP3 to the wave format.
