Curating East Africa: A Platform and Process for Location-Based Storytelling in the Developing World

FAIN: HAA-255990-17

Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH 44115-2214)
J. Mark Souther (Project Director: January 2017 to May 2019)
Meshack Owino (Co Project Director: May 2017 to May 2019)

Expansion of the Curating Kisumu project, which brings together collaborators from the United States and Kenya to develop a mobile website interpreting regional history and culture in East Africa.

We seek a Digital Humanities Advancement Grant to develop a Curatescape for WordPress beta, a toolset comprised of an open-source plugin and theme framework that enables scholars or small teams to create interpretive humanities presentations optimized for the mobile-first Internet culture in East Africa and the developing world. Expanding upon our Curating Kisumu project, we will continue to involve transnational student teams in building collaboratively researched and curated location-based stories in Kisumu, Kenya, with project partner Maseno University. After building the beta, which expands upon the existing Curatescape toolset, we will test it with Kisumu content and engage a panel of humanities experts in Kenya and Tanzania to evaluate both the content and the framework. By overcoming regional technical constraints, the project addresses gaps between ambition and adoption of digital humanities practice in Africa and supports local cultural production.

Associated Products

MaCleKi: Engaging the African public in their history, one story at a time (Article)
Title: MaCleKi: Engaging the African public in their history, one story at a time
Author: Meshack Owino
Author: Mark Souther
Abstract: This online essay offers reflections on the degree to which the mobile-first website developed by our NEH grant project has engaged the African public in their history.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://parameters.ssrc.org/2018/12/macleki-engaging-the-african-public-in-their-history-one-story-at-a-time/?platform=hootsuite
Primary URL Description: Parameters publishes scholarly articles addressing a set of complex, persistent questions at the heart of social science research: How does (and, ultimately, should) the production and distribution of knowledge change under digital conditions? How is it changing already? What do the interactions between academic institutions and the online world look like, and what new institutions and worlds are being created?
Access Model: open access
Format: Other
Periodical Title: Parameters
Publisher: Social Science Research Council (SSRC)

Curatescape for WordPress (Computer Program)
Title: Curatescape for WordPress
Author: Erin Bell
Abstract: Publish location-based, media-rich, structured narratives compatible with Curatescape mobile apps. Designed for public historians, urbanists, and other humanities researchers. Adds Tour and Story post types, as well as custom taxonomies and metadata fields. Developed with NEH support for Curating Kisumu (macleki.org).
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://github.com/CPHDH/wp_curatescape
Access Model: open source (GPL license)
Programming Language/Platform: WordPress (PHP / Javascript)
Source Available?: Yes

PlacePress (Computer Program)
Title: PlacePress
Author: Erin Bell
Abstract: Adds Tour and Location post types, structured map blocks, and custom taxonomies. Designed for public historians, urbanists, and other humanities researchers. Represents an evolution (in progress) from Curatescape for WordPress plugin in response to release of fundamentally different WordPress 5.0 (Project Gutenberg), as well as a decision upon the close of the grant period to more clearly differentiate this digital storytelling platform from Curatescape for Omeka.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://github.com/CPHDH/placepress
Primary URL Description: GitHub repository for PlacePress plugin code (work in progress)
Secondary URL: https://github.com/CPHDH/placepress
Secondary URL Description: GitHub repository for PlacePress plugin code (work in progress)
Access Model: open source (GPL license)
Programming Language/Platform: WordPress (PHP / Javascript)
Source Available?: Yes

MaCleKi (Web Resource)
Title: MaCleKi
Author: Meshack Owino
Author: Mark Souther
Author: Erin Bell
Abstract: MaCleKi lets you explore the history of Kisumu, Kenya, through location-based essays and media. The project presents a range of themes, including culture, education, leadership and politics, land and environment, housing, health, trade, technology, religion, tourism, gender relations, ethnic and racial relations, and regional and international relations. A partnership between Maseno University and Cleveland State University, MaCleKi is funded by a grant from the NEH Office of Digital Humanities.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://macleki.org
Primary URL Description: Project website includes humanities content developed with students at Maseno University and Cleveland State University, arranged into stories and tours.

Kisumu Archive (Web Resource)
Title: Kisumu Archive
Author: Mark Souther
Author: Meshack Owino
Abstract: The Kisumu Archive is an Omeka-based collection of contemporary and historical photographs and other visual materials that depict places in Kisumu City, Kisumu County, and, to a lesser degree, villages and rural areas in the Nyanza region of western Kenya. Content was collected in the process of developing stories for MaCleKi, the primary project website.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://archive.macleki.org

Mobilizing Digital Public Humanities for a New Sense of Global Citizenship in Africa: The Example of Collaboration between Cleveland State University, USA, and Maseno University, Kenya (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Mobilizing Digital Public Humanities for a New Sense of Global Citizenship in Africa: The Example of Collaboration between Cleveland State University, USA, and Maseno University, Kenya
Author: Meshack Owino
Author: Mark Souther
Abstract: This conference paper examines the attitudes, experiences, and worldviews of Maseno University and Cleveland State University students who participated in collaborative research associated with both the Curating Kisumu and Curating East Africa grants, and how they changed after the students participated in a research collaboration between their universities. It explores the role of the research project in the transformation of the identity and worldview of the students who were involved.
Date: 3/30/2019
Primary URL: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/africa-conference/conference-schedule1/conference-schedule.php
Primary URL Description: Conference program
Conference Name: 19th Annual Africa Conference, University of Texas-Austin

Mobilizing History: Reflections on a Decade of Digital Humanities Practice on Two Continents (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Mobilizing History: Reflections on a Decade of Digital Humanities Practice on Two Continents
Abstract: Mark Souther will reflect on his experience in modeling innovative platforms and processes for university-based community engagement through digital public history, ranging from Cleveland, Ohio, to Kisumu, Kenya.
Author: Mark Souther
Date: 4/8/2019
Location: Georgia Institute of Technology
Primary URL: https://hsoc.gatech.edu/speakers-series-spring

Curating Kisumu (WordPress theme) (Computer Program)
Title: Curating Kisumu (WordPress theme)
Author: Erin Bell
Abstract: Wordpress for the Developing World and Low Bandwidth Connections. Built for the WP Curatescape plugin used by MaCleKi (https://macleki.org/)
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://github.com/CPHDH/curating-kisumu
Primary URL Description: GitHub repository
Access Model: open source (GPL license)
Programming Language/Platform: WordPress (PHP / JavaScript)
Source Available?: Yes

"Curating Kisumu" and "Curating East Africa": Academic Collaboration and Public Engagement in the Digital Age (Article)
Title: "Curating Kisumu" and "Curating East Africa": Academic Collaboration and Public Engagement in the Digital Age
Author: Meshack Owino
Author: Mark Souther
Abstract: This essay examines the origin, permutations, potentials, challenges, and implications of two successive, collaborative public history research, teaching, and learning projects undertaken by the Department of History at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, and the Department of History and Archeology at Maseno University, Kisumu, Kenya between 2014 and 2018. The two projects explored how opportunities created by the mobile revolution in Africa could be leveraged to generate new ways of acquiring historical information and knowledge between students and faculty in universities separated by enormous distances and by disparate social, economic, and political experiences. Specifically, the projects examined how the cellphone revolution could reshape the production and dissemination of knowledge about important sites, places, events, and people in modern Africa. The essay examines the conception and permutations of the two projects; identifies and explores their potentials and challenges; and proffers thoughts and suggestions that may guide similar future endeavors.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2020.11
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: History in Africa
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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