CASBAH Project
(Caribbean Studies, Black and Asian History)

"Identifying and mapping national research resources for Caribbean Studies
and the history of Black and Asian people in Britain"
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BACKGROUND:
The CASBAH Project is an RSLP-funded demonstrator project which was
established in January 2000 to identify and map national research resources
for Caribbean studies and the history of Black and Asian people in Britain.

Based at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, CASBAH
is run as a consortium, with partners from higher education, local
authorities, academic societies and public organisations representing some
of the most significant national collections and academic bodies associated
with Caribbean Studies and Black and Asian history in Britain. A full list
of our partner institutions is available via the CASBAH web site at
http://www.casbah.ac.uk/Partners_Details.htm.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT:
The aims of the CASBAH Project are currently being developed through a
series of five inter-related modules:

1. archives
2. printed and audio-visual sources
3. collaborative collection management initiatives (between libraries,
archives and other repositories collecting in the CASBAH subject areas)
4. training, awareness and outreach activities
5. project web site, database and subject gateway

The project's web site (http://www.casbah.ac.uk) will bring all of the above
together to provide a central, unified resource. Its database and subject
gateway (due to be completed in May 2002) will be accessible to both the
national and international research community, acting as a first point of
call for researchers undertaking work in the fields of Caribbean Studies
and/or the history of Black and Asian people in Britain.  The site will also
act as a bulletin board for details of similar projects and events.

In addition to the web site a CASBAH-RSLP email discussion group has been
set up, which allows members to receive detailed updates about the work of
the project, send in relevant information and discuss pertinent issues.  To
join the list, please send an email to [log in to unmask], or
contact Carol Dixon (CASBAH Project Officer) at [log in to unmask]

CURRENT PROGRESS:
Since the project's inception in January 2000 progress has been made in all
the module areas. Pilot surveys have been conducted at most of our partner
institutions, and the methodology for organising and conducting regional
archive surveys continues to be developed, tested and refined. Work is
underway in the mapping of printed and audio-visual sources, and a template
of fields for creating collection-level descriptions has been devised, along
with data entry guidelines. A recent development in this mapping exercise
has been the establishment of an 'experts database' which brings together
and highlights academics and researchers working on topics related to
Caribbean Studies and the history of Black and Asian people in Britain.

Links with the Black and Asian Studies Association (BASA), and its
associated Black and Asian Archive Working Party, have been established and
this has led to collaborations with other national and local projects
interested in these subject areas, including:
· Black History Project - based at Lambeth Archives (London)
· West Yorkshire COSMOS Project
· Archives and Museum of Black Heritage (formerly known as the National
Museum and Archives of Black History and Culture)
· Bedfordshire and Luton Archive Service

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Input from the higher education, library and archive communities is vital to
the CASBAH Project's success, so if you would like to send information to
CASBAH about relevant collections you know about that are not listed in any
major directory of sources, or you would just like to find out more about
the work of the project, please contact Carol Dixon (CASBAH Project Officer)
c/o:

CASBAH Project
Institute of Commonwealth Studies (University of London)
28 Russell Square,
London, WC1B 5DS

Tel: 020 7862 8824
Fax: 020 7862 8820

Email: [log in to unmask] (or [log in to unmask])
Listserve: [log in to unmask]
Web site: http://www.casbah.ac.uk