Archive Liberia is a memory project aimed at reconstructing my personal memories and the memories of other Liberians. It’s important to stress that this project goes beyond the mere recollection of memories; its goal is to dissect and analyze memories about Liberia, seeking to understand how colonialism, imperialism, and other dominant narratives have influenced and distorted our recollections.
Sometimes what we remember is not even our own memory but a manufactured one. How can we tell the difference? I’ve learned that through collaborative work, through study, through oral history, through community conversations, and through the archives, we get closer to telling the difference. This isn’t the only way to do this but it is one way. It’s how this project and its community has been cultivated since the public launch in 2020.