Pamphlets
Over the years we have built up a large collection of print ephemera, minor publications and grey literature. Africa-published material and documents originating from, or dealing with the national liberation movements and solidarity movements are well represented and contribute to the uniqueness of this collection.
The pamphlet collection at the Nordic Africa Institute library | |
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Number of boxes | 700+ |
Number of items per box | 10-100 |
Number of items (total) | Approximately 25000 |
Types of materials included | Pamphlets, brochures, essays, documents, posters, leaflets, telegrams and incomplete periodical series |
Languages | English or French: 70%, |
Time scope | Most material spans the period from 1960 to 1980, broadly representing African issues and events. Certain earlier documents occur as well. |
Sub-collections | Country collection: The largest sub-collection, sorted by geography and then by subject. Varying amounts of items by country, although the bulk concerns: Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zimbabwe.
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Searchability | Included items have not been catalogued in full detail. Contents in the boxes are listed on item level (title, author, organisation, year), in table format in PDF files. Individual titles are searchable via title and author/originator in our search tool AfricaLit Plus. |
Accessibility | The items in the collection can be consulted in the NAI library, and in print only (not electronically). Relevant information can be photocopied or scanned for individual use.
The boxes are stored in our stacks, so you need to place orders on the specific boxes you want to consult. |
Growth | The collection is still growing, but at a slower rate. This material type is increasingly published electronically instead of in print. |
Box contents are listed in PDF files, available through our our library search tool AfricaLit Plus.
- Click a link below for a results list in AfricaLit Plus, then
- click on a title for a full view of the record, then
- click the Table of contents (PDF) link for a listing of the contents of the boxes in question.
Countries and regions
Algeria External link, opens in new window. | Angola
External link, opens in new window. | Benin
External link, opens in new window. | Botswana
External link, opens in new window. | Burkina Faso
External link, opens in new window. | Burundi
External link, opens in new window. | Cameroon
External link, opens in new window. | Cape Verde
External link, opens in new window. | Central African Republic
External link, opens in new window. | Chad
External link, opens in new window. | Comoros
External link, opens in new window. | Congo
External link, opens in new window. | Congo DR
External link, opens in new window. | Côte d'Ivoire
External link, opens in new window. | Djibouti
External link, opens in new window. | Egypt
External link, opens in new window. | Equatorial Guinea
External link, opens in new window. | Eritrea
External link, opens in new window. | Eswatini (Swaziland)
External link, opens in new window. | Ethiopia
External link, opens in new window. | Gabon
External link, opens in new window. | Gambia
External link, opens in new window. | Ghana
External link, opens in new window. | Guinea
External link, opens in new window. | Guinea-Bissau
External link, opens in new window. | Kenya
External link, opens in new window. | Lesotho
External link, opens in new window. | Liberia
External link, opens in new window. | Libya
External link, opens in new window. | Madagascar
External link, opens in new window. | Malawi
External link, opens in new window. | Mali
External link, opens in new window. | Mauritania
External link, opens in new window. | Mauritius
External link, opens in new window. | Morocco
External link, opens in new window. | Mozambique
External link, opens in new window. | Namibia
External link, opens in new window. | Niger
External link, opens in new window. | Nigeria
External link, opens in new window. | Reunion
External link, opens in new window. | Rwanda
External link, opens in new window. | Sao Tome and Principe
External link, opens in new window. | Senegal
External link, opens in new window. | Seychelles
External link, opens in new window. | Sierra Leone
External link, opens in new window. | Somalia
External link, opens in new window. | South Africa
External link, opens in new window. | Sudan
External link, opens in new window. | Tanzania
External link, opens in new window. | Togo
External link, opens in new window. | Tunisia
External link, opens in new window. | Uganda
External link, opens in new window. | Western Sahara
External link, opens in new window. | Zambia
External link, opens in new window. | Zanzibar
External link, opens in new window. | Zimbabwe
External link, opens in new window.
East Africa External link, opens in new window. | Indian Ocean
External link, opens in new window. | Lusophone Africa
External link, opens in new window. | North Africa
External link, opens in new window. | Northeast Africa
External link, opens in new window. | Southern Africa
External link, opens in new window. | West Africa
External link, opens in new window.
Subjects
Direct search links to subjects within the country collection.
Agriculture External link, opens in new window. | Anthropology
External link, opens in new window. | Apartheid
External link, opens in new window. | Arabic documents
External link, opens in new window. | Art
External link, opens in new window. | Bibliography
External link, opens in new window. | Biography
External link, opens in new window. | Border Rural Comittee
External link, opens in new window. | Child Psychology
External link, opens in new window. | Children and violence
External link, opens in new window. | Colonial History
External link, opens in new window. | Co-operative Agriculture
External link, opens in new window. | Cooperatives
External link, opens in new window. | Culture
External link, opens in new window. | Demography
External link, opens in new window. | Development Projects
External link, opens in new window. | Disaster Relief
External link, opens in new window. | Economy
External link, opens in new window. | Education
External link, opens in new window. | The election 1989 (Namibia)
External link, opens in new window. | Emergency relief
External link, opens in new window. | Fiction
External link, opens in new window. | Fisheries
External link, opens in new window. | Foreign Relations
External link, opens in new window. | Gender issues
External link, opens in new window. | General
External link, opens in new window. | Geography
External link, opens in new window. | Grahamstown Rural Committee (GRC)
External link, opens in new window. | Health
External link, opens in new window. | History
External link, opens in new window. | House construction
External link, opens in new window. | Industry
External link, opens in new window. | Journals
External link, opens in new window. | Labour
External link, opens in new window. | Law
External link, opens in new window. | Medical genetics
External link, opens in new window. | Migration
External link, opens in new window. | Military
External link, opens in new window. | Mineral resources
External link, opens in new window. | National Land Committee
External link, opens in new window. | National liberation movements
External link, opens in new window. | Natural resources
External link, opens in new window. | Natural sciences
External link, opens in new window. | NGO
External link, opens in new window. | Nutrition
External link, opens in new window. | Peace research
External link, opens in new window. | Political parties
External link, opens in new window. | Politics
External link, opens in new window. | The Press
External link, opens in new window. | Psychology
External link, opens in new window. | Race relations
External link, opens in new window. | Radio
External link, opens in new window. | Railways
External link, opens in new window. | Refugees
External link, opens in new window. | Regional cooperation
External link, opens in new window. | Religion
External link, opens in new window. | Religious institutions
External link, opens in new window. | Religious missions
External link, opens in new window. | Social development
External link, opens in new window. | Social Planning
External link, opens in new window. | Sociology
External link, opens in new window. | Solidarity movements
External link, opens in new window. | Southern Cape Land Committee
External link, opens in new window. | Sport
External link, opens in new window. | Statistics
External link, opens in new window. | Student movements
External link, opens in new window. | Student organisations
External link, opens in new window. | Teaching materials
External link, opens in new window. | Tourism
External link, opens in new window. | Trade Unions
External link, opens in new window. | Transkei Land Service Organization
External link, opens in new window. | Transvaal Rural Action Committee
External link, opens in new window. | United Nations
External link, opens in new window. | Women
External link, opens in new window. | Youth
External link, opens in new window. | Zoology
External link, opens in new window.

Box contents are listed in PDF files, available through our our library search tool AfricaLit Plus.
Searching in AfricaLit Plus
The content of the collection is searchable in AfricaLit Plus.
It is possible to limit a search to the actual pamphlet collection by choosing Advanced search, typing in a search term and then choosing Material Type: Pamphlets.
In each record in the result list, there is a Link to Table of content (PDF) where the item(s) can be found. Each record can contain several hits. For example, searching for Cabral results in 11 records. The table of contents of each record lead to an additional result of 100+ publications.
Country (sub)collection
By far the largest portion of the collection has been divided according to countries and regions; each of these sections having then been further subdivided into subject areas. The amount of material available differs from country to country, although the bulk of the information in the collection concerns the following countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Under each country or region, the main subject headings in use are: agriculture, anthropology, development projects, economy, national liberation movements, politics, religious institutions and solidarity movements. Documents concerning the economy of South Africa can be found under South Africa: economy. Sometimes, however, it is easier and more natural to find certain documents under the organisation or institution by which it was published, rather than by subject. This means that documents concerning Shell in South Africa, for example, could be filed under politics or economy, although they are more likely to be found under solidarity movements or religious institutions, which have published such a vast amount of such material.
Under the category general - specific for each country - miscellaneous facts about that particular country can be found: geography, bibliographies, and documents concerning more than one subject. In cases where there are not enough documents on a particular subject to justify having its own box, the items have been filed under a related subject. In the case of certain countries, the documents available are so few that they have all been filed under general.
Subject (sub)collection
A second, smaller part of the collection has been divided into subject headings that are not country specific. This latter section represents a wide range of subjects pertaining to Africa and African affairs such as health issues, mass media, gender issues, and migration.
- Aid
All documents concerning development aid have been filed under the heading Development projects. - Anthropology, sociology, ethnology
Anthropology, sociology and ethnology have been combined under the heading anthropology since there is insufficient material available on these subjects individually to fill a file. Should enough information become available under any of these subjects, however, they will then be allocated a separate file. - Conferences
Material from various conferences are not kept together, but are filed under their respective subjects. See also the library’s separate collection of conference proceedings. - Conflicts
Materials concerning conflicts have been placed in the same files regardless of their subject. That is to say, diverse subjects such as religion and weapons, as long as they relate to a specific conflict, will be found under conflicts. Two conflicts areas about which a great deal of material is to be found are Biafra and Southern Sudan. - Eritrea
All material concerning Eritrea, regardless of historical period, will be found under Eritrea. - Guinea-Bissau/Cape Verde
All material from the period when Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde were united will be found under the country heading Guinea-Bissau/Cape Verde. - History
Only documents with a general historical viewpoint have been filed under history. Historical aspects of various subjects are referred to the respective subject category. Agrarian history, for example, will be filed under agriculture. - Languages used
Documents written in Arabic or in African languages (with the exception of Swahili) have been placed in the file marked general - Liberation movements
All material published about liberation movements, irrespective of the subject, are be found in the same files. - Religious institutions
All material published by religious institutions, regardless of the subject, are to be found in the same files. - Solidarity movements
All material published by solidarity movements, regardless of subject, are to be found in the same files. - Statistics/Economy
Statistics have been put in the same file as economy. Under this category one will find descriptions of specific companies, annual reports, labour market/trade unions (if not written from a strictly political angle), industry and infrastructure.
Background
In 2002, the material was organized in over 700 boxes and classified in a system of over 500 subject files to facilitate access. Each box contains some 10 to 100 items. Although subject files were made searchable through the online catalogue, it was not possible to search and find individual items in the collection.
In 2017-2020 we were able to set up a project to enhance the searchability of the collection. A content list of each box was produced and uploaded as searchable PDF files in the library search tool AfricaLit Plus. Approximately 25000 items are searchable, thus adding to the visibility of the library collection.
Visual examples

Parts of the pamphlet collection in the stacks at NAI in 2022. It consists of 700+ boxes in total.

The main part of the pamphlet collection is geographically sorted, with a secondary subject sorting.

Angola : Solidarity movements, box 3.

Congo DR : National liberation movements - MPR, box 11.

Namibia : Solidarity movements, box 26.
There may be paywalls to reach the full text of articles. This list is primarily for documentation.
- van der Hoog , T., & Moore, B. C. (2022). "Paper, pixels, or plane tickets? Multi-archival perspectives on the decolonisation of Namibia". Journal of Namibian Studies : History Politics Culture, 32, 77–106. URL: https://namibian-studies.com/index.php/JNS/article/view/252
External link, opens in new window.
- Tycho van der Hoog (2022), "Research Note: the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) Pamphlet Collection", Cold War History, 22:3, 363-368, DOI: 10.1080/14682745.2022.2076345
External link, opens in new window.
- "Afrikabibliotekets pärlor visas"
External link, opens in new window., Upsala Nya Tidning, 2012-05-14
- "Femtio år av befrielserörelser"
External link., Upsala Nya Tidning, 2012-03-05