The Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (JHIA) aspires to deepen the understanding of the history and mission of the Jesuits on the African continent by enhancing local cultural and spiritual heritage. It aims to promote rigorous research that sheds light on the interactions between the Jesuit tradition, religions and other African socio-cultural dynamics. Through its work, the Institute seeks to inspire a new generation of researchers and actors committed to promoting Jesuit studies, justice, education and intercultural dialogue in Africa and Madagascar.
Since 2022, JHIA’s vision and Hans Zell’s work have gone hand in hand. This collaboration has been made possible thanks to the ongoing support of our friend Angus Crichton, then Global Advocacy Manager for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). Thanks to this combined effort, JHIA has included the Hans Zell African Studies Collections and Archive in its list of collections.
A key figure in African publishing, Zell has devoted much of his career to producing books and bibliographic resources focused on the continent. His contributions are particularly notable in the field of documentation and academic publications. More importantly, they align with the work and vision of JHIA.
Hans Zell Publishing
Hans Zell Publishing (earlier Hans Zell Publishers) is a renowned publishing and documentation company with a special interest in Africa. With the Hans Zell Collection at JHIA, the African researcher has access to relevant information on Africa. For example, The African Studies Companion (Zell Reference Zell2002) provides an overview of academic and practical resources related to Africa, including information on publications, institutions, libraries and digital databases, as well as publishers specializing in African studies. Zell also offers the African researcher at JHIA a guide to online resources, including academic portals, databases and digital archives. Added to this is a comprehensive list of bibliographies, encyclopaedias and directories for exploring specific subjects. A directory compiles international institutions, research centres and organizations working on or in Africa, with their contact details, publications and activities.
Development of publishing in Africa
In addition to collecting and preserving documents and artefacts on African religions in good condition archives, JHIA also promotes specialized research and publishing work. An important work in this field is Zell’s Publishing and Book Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (Zell and Lomer Reference Zell and Lomer1996). Here, Zell explores the challenges, opportunities and evolution of the publishing industry in the sub-Saharan region. The author sheds light on the structures and dynamics of the sector, particularly with regard to book production and distribution, and their impact on cultural, educational and economic development.
In a prophetic attitude that matches JHIA’s vision, Zell attacks, among other things, the fact that infrastructure and resources for book publishing remain concentrated in the hands of foreign houses. This situation has reinforced the excessive dependence of African researchers, authors and readers on imported books. This phenomenon not only limits access to local literature; it also explains the low literacy rate in some regions. This, in turn, reduces the supply and demand for books, making them excessively expensive in an African market already disadvantaged by low incomes.
In such a context, JHIA quickly realized that the emergence of African publishers was becoming an imperative, and their role in promoting local authors, indigenous literature and African languages an emergency. However, as African publishers face financial and technical constraints, Zell’s initiatives help strengthen the sector with international support programmes, partnerships between African and international publishers, and government policies to promote access to reading. In an attempt to address these challenges, JHIA, in collaboration with Angus Crichton and the African Theological Network Press (ATNP), launched a publishing house in 2018. ATNP aimed to buy the rights of important books on Africa published in the West and reprint them on the African continent at a low price. The experiment was a real success. Unfortunately, lack of funds led to the closure of ATNP, though not of its vision. JHIA continues, within its limited means, to help young Africans in their publishing efforts.
Impact on African Studies
Hans Zell has greatly enhanced the visibility of African Studies worldwide. By creating directories and reference works, he enabled academic institutions to integrate African perspectives into their research and teaching programmes. Zell recognized early on the importance of digitization for the dissemination of African documentation. His work explores how new technologies can be used to overcome the challenges of physical documentation and library access in Africa.
With a stock of some 15,000 old maps of Africa, JHIA boasts a unique collection – the first of its kind in Kenya, according to experts at the National Library. This collection would be available to a larger African audience if it were digitized. As we are still looking for funding for such a project, the vision remains. JHIA already provides a portal of Jesuit sources in Africa; the digitization of these maps will contribute to greater knowledge sharing for African researchers and students in fields as diverse as archaeology, geography, demography, mining, ecosystem and geo-strategic studies.
Conclusion
The Hans Zell Collection at JHIA is an echo not only of Zell’s work, but also of JHIA’s mission to bring Africa out from the margins of knowledge production, distribution and consumption. Zell has shed light on the historical evolution of the publishing industry in Africa. This in itself is an important contribution to the historiography of Africa as a whole. Thanks to him, light has been shed on the effects of colonialism, globalization and inequalities in book production and distribution.
