Africa’s regional archives offer crucial records to explore the continent’s postcolonial past. Although these archives are often difficult to locate and access and are exposed to several challenges that might even threaten their existence, this article presents a solid case for reconsidering their importance. Recent trends, aptly labelled ‘postcolonial African archival pessimism’, have mainly pointed to problems and often to the limited accessibility of state archives in some regional and local contexts. This article instead engages with their potential, discussing four case studies in Benin, Cabo Verde, Ghana and Congo-Brazzaville. Results stemming from these case studies are brought into contact with wider debates on custodial cultures and the regional archives’ role in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. The intention is to provide a more positive and empirically based overview of research possibilities at regional archives and ultimately to change the nature of our approach to these resources.

非洲的区域档案为探索非洲大陆的后殖民历史提供了重要记录。尽管这些档案通常很难定位和访问，并且面临一些甚至可能威胁其存在的挑战，但本文提供了一个重新考虑其重要性的可靠案例。最近的趋势被恰当地称为“后殖民非洲档案悲观主义”，主要指出了一些问题，而且往往是在某些区域和地方背景下国家档案的可访问性有限。相反，本文探讨了它们的潜力，讨论了贝宁、佛得角、加纳和刚果布拉柴维尔的四个案例研究。这些案例研究的结果与有关保管文化和区域档案馆在当代撒哈拉以南非洲的作用的更广泛的辩论联系起来。目的是对区域档案馆的研究可能性提供更积极和基于经验的概述，并最终改变我们对这些资源的处理方法的性质。