Mrs. Judith Opoku-Boateng

Judith Opoku-Boateng is the Archivist in charge of the J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. She holds formal qualifications in Sociology and Archival Studies from the University of Ghana, as well as specialized certificates in Audiovisual Heritage Preservation (AHP).  Preceding her current position, Judith engaged with the International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD) as an ethnographic researcher documenting music and dance forms from indigenous communities in Ghana. She won the Jim Linder Grant for Cultural Heritage Preservation in 2011 and became a US State Alumni (IVLP 2011) in the same year. She has presented papers at conferences, symposia and workshops on Audiovisual Heritage Preservation locally and globally and served as a private consultant for the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) from October 2015 to February 2017, as well as a resource person for ICCROM’s SOIMA programme in July 2017. She is the current Chair of the Diversity Task Force of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), as well as its ambassador for Ghana and West Africa. Additionally, she serves on the Research Archives and Programme Committees of IASA. 

Judith is a member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), a member of the AV Think Tank – an initiative of Netherlands Sound and Vision Institute and a Technical Committee Member for SOIMA (ICCROM initiative).  She has published articles and offered training programmes in Audiovisual Heritage Preservation.  Judith has recently been involved in archival activism - advocating for current and future preservation of audiovisual materials especially in her region.

• Audiovisual Archiving and Cultural Heritage Communities
• Archival Activism
• Cultural Synthesis and the Archives
•  Knowledge Transfer within Archives
• International Standards and Networks in Archiving
• Digital Preservation Vrs the current trends in Archives

• J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives @University of Ghana – Outlook, Current Projects.  Presented at the Goethe Institute, Accra/Ghana, under the theme: Heritage in Perspective.  Date: March 3-5 2020.
• “Audiovisual Archives - For Inspiration, for Creativity…….” Panel presentation, as a member of the AV Think Tank, at the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives Conference, 2019, on the theme: “Imagine the Future”, in Hilversum-Netherlands, from October 1-4, 2019.
• Keeping Memories Alive: The Benefits of Audiovisual Collections to Research – J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives in Perspective Akrofi Christaller Institute of Theology – Keynote at the Doctoral Seminar. March 2019.
• Adding to the Archive: Field Recordings and their Afterlife – Akrofi Christaller Institute of Theology – 2^nd Keynote at the Doctoral Seminar. March 2019
• Audiovisual Documentation and Preservation of Ceremonial Celebrations and Oral Narratives – The Ghanaian Experience - Presented at the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives Annual Conference (IASA) 2017 on the theme: Access and Accessibility – Archival Policies and Barriers in the Age of Global Information Exchange.  October 2018
• Keeping Memories Alive: The J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives in Perspective – Presented at the Ghana National Museum during the Week-long programme on the theme: Museum Dialogues.  December, 2018.
• Archives and The Public Good – 70 Years of UG’s Contribution to Unifying Ghanaian Cultures: J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives in Perspective – Public Lecture delivered to commemorate UG @ 70 Celebrations, organised by the School of Information and Communication Studies, University of Ghana. May 2018.
• Digitize me, I am a Precious Sound Document: The Practice and Problems of Selection and Appraisal in an African Audiovisual Archive  - Presented at the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives Annual Conference (IASA) 2017 on the theme: “Integration and Innovation, Bringing Workflows and Formats Together in the Digital Era  – Berlin-Germany, September, 2017.
• “Making African Academic Resources Accessible: The Story of the Kwabena Nketia Archives, 65 years on” - SCOLMA International Conference on the theme: “How Digitization Aids Research in Africa”, Scotland, September 11, 2017 – Virtual Presentation with Korklu Laryea (UMAT)
• “J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives – Bridging Ghanaian Indigenous Cultures” -  One day Public Symposium on the theme: Sound and Image Heritage, for Creativity, Peace and Development.  Organised by ICCROM and IAS as part of the Two weeks International Training Workshop (July 21, 2017)
• “Preserving the Kwabena Nketia Archives at the University of Ghana, Legon” Presented at The Arts Council of the African Studies Association - ACASA 2017 – At the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.  August 2017
• Academic Resources at the J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives, presented at the Training and Orientation workshop for Librarians in the University of Ghana Library System. – Balme Library (June 28-30, 2016)
• –“MAARA- Preserving the J. H. Kwabena Nketia Recordings” New York University Special Invitation Presentation on MAARA Project Report – At the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis  –  April 5, 2016
• “Audiovisual Preservation Exchanges – MAARA: Making African Academic Resources Accessible”- Joint presentation with Professor Mona Jimenez, APEX Team Leader – At the 10^th Orphans Film Symposium  under the theme: “SOUND”- Packard Campus, National Audiovisual Conservation Centre, Library of Congress, Culpepper, Virginia, United States, April 9, 2016.
• “Applying the ‘Baby Nursing Model’ in Under-resourced Archives; the Journey with the Nketia Collections at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon – Presented at SOIMA 2015 International Conference under the theme: Unlocking Sound and Image Heritage, Brussels – Belgium, September 3, 2015

“What do we do with Audiovisual Carriers after Digitization?” – Panel Member

Parallel Sessions on Institutional Strategies – Session Moderator

• “Local Preservation of a Global Heritage, International Co-operation and the Digitization of Written and Non-Written Material at the University of Ghana, Legon” – Presented with Barfi Adomako at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association  ALA/IRC/Africa Subcommittee under the theme: “Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves” – San Francisco, United States.  - June 27, 2015 – Virtual Presentation
• “Sharing the Experience with the Management of the Nketia Collections at the University of Ghana :” – Presented at the Pre-conference workshop of the Fourth International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives (ICADLA-4), University of Ghana, Legon. - May, 2015
• ‘Challenges of a West African Audiovisual Archive and  possible solutions through International Exchange’ – Association of Moving Archivists Conference, Savannah Georgia, United States – October, 2014.
• CFI – Ghana 2014- Promoting Archives: how, why and for whom?:–  presented at CFI workshop for audiovisual content producers and  caretakers in Anglophone and Francophone West African countries.  May, 2014.
• ‘Digital Archiving at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon’, - Joint presentation with the Director of IAS (Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo),  at the Digital Humanities Workshop, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, United States – November 2-14, 2014
• “Teaching Resources at the Institute of African studies, University of Ghana – Panel,  Presented at the International Congress of the Institute of African Studies, to mark its 50^th anniversary celebrations. – October, 2013
• ‘Fifty years of Institute of African Studies Audiovisuals, challenges and prospects’ – Seminar Series to launch the Institute of African Studies 50^th Anniversary: March 2013, University of Ghana, Legon.
• ‘Sound and Image collections at Institute of African Studies’ – Presented at SOIMA 2013: Safeguarding Sound and Image Collections Conference at Nairobi Kenya under the theme: Sound and Image collections: Current Challenges and Strategies for their Conservation and Long-Term use. September, 2013.