Reimagining the Sudan National Archive: Crisis Response and the Path to Open African KnowledgePresented at the Information Africa Organization workshop on Archives and African Endogenous Knowledge Systems in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, this paper situates the Sudan National Archive within the global open education movement.The Sudan National Archive is one of Africa’s most significant memory institutions, housing millions of documents that record Sudan’s political, social, and cultural history across centuries. The war has caused severe damage, including physical destruction, collapse of digital infrastructure, and threats to the survival of this heritage for future generations.The paper argues that crisis response must extend beyond emergency preservation to embrace transformation. Digitization, open access, and artificial intelligence provide pathways to rebuild the archive as a dynamic knowledge platform. Such a reimagined archive would safeguard national memory while democratizing access to Sudanese and African knowledge, supporting research, education, and development.It calls for the creation of a unified national digital platform that integrates archives, libraries, and memory institutions, strengthened by national, regional, and international partnerships. This initiative aligns with OEG’s principles of openness, equity, and sustainability, ensuring long-term preservation and accessibility of Sudan’s documentary heritage.The future of the Sudan National Archive lies not only in preservation, but in its transformation into an open, digital, and sustainable knowledge hub that contributes to African knowledge production and enriches the global open education ecosystem.
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