Kuumba.org.uk

It is often the case when history comes up as a subject, whose history should you be learning? Just British history or that of your parent's history as well? and if it is history is it based on the actual truth as the terminology suggests, it his story and her story.

Over time it is possible to hear both sides of a point of view even if the account was made hundreds of years ago. In relation to immigrants in the UK, we are lucky that national libraries encompass a wide range of materials and reference books pertaining to a variety of historic accounts from individual countries throughout the ages.

However one can imagine that as many books as there are in the UK on the subject of Mali and individual books on its history, there would be hundreds more in Mali itself. This is the aim of the Sankore Library in Bristol, named after the 14th Century University of Sankore, Mali. Whether Mali, Ethiopia, Jamaica or Ghana they wish to make books, historical and literary works available for the wider public.

The Sankore Library's aims are:

Provide an environment where all people are welcome.
Provide access to books that have often in the past been marginalised.
Provide an alternative African / Caribbean perspective.
To encourage all library users to question history.
To provide an educational / resource base for children, students & teachers.
To promote African / Caribbean history/issues to everyone in a relaxed environment.

Mainstream education in the UK is reasonable but the topics centre around cultures that are UK dominant. There is also the aspect that Britain tends to leave out larger percentages of its Empirical history, which is a great shame as that would involve a lot of Asian and African history also.

With this in mind, the Sankore Library has a specialist selection of books, periodicals and videos on African / Caribbean history, literature and culture, these resources are supported by internet facilities which can be used by all in the community as and when required. Being an immigrant, either first generation or fourth generation, the internet enables a lot of us to enquire on a whim about our ancestry and the country which gave our forefathers life. Kuumba offers people an additional broach into the past that is more vivid and interactive. Members of the community who can help them research but also have face to face discussions about any topic on any country.