Following much attention toward the re(p)(m)atriation of colonial-era music collections, ethnomusicologists are engaging in constructive discourse on decolonial methodologies emerging from critical perceptions of “the archive”. Indeed, recent scholarship advocates for contemporary archiving with and for Indigenous communities (e.g., Onyeji and Onyeji 2023; Kummels and Cánepa 2023; Watkins, Madiba, and McConnachie 2021), and asks us to consider: What might a postcolonial or decolonial music archive be and do? What are the forms and challenges of archival activism? What role, if any, should academics serve?

This roundtable will foster conversation about best practices in the collaborative making of new archives with Indigenous communities. We bring together Indigenous musicians, activists, and academics engaged in an ongoing project, “Sounding Indigenous in South Africa”, that collaboratively investigates and archives the heritage performance practices of people in the Northern Cape who identify as Khoesan and are known as a “first people”. Our team is establishing digitized performances held in archives jointly managed by Khoesan partners and whose content activists can use to promote cultural revivalism and policy change efforts.

The roundtable will open with a performance-presentation by a Khoe (Nama) musician and community researcher. We will then hear short statements from three South African speakers: a Khoe activist and member of S.A.’s Indigenous Rights Commission, an anthropologist and advisor to S.A.’s panel on Intangible Cultural Heritage, and an ethnomusicologist and ILAM archivist. The organizer will then facilitate discussion and invite the audience to share their insights on archiving with Indigenous communities in Africa and elsewhere.