Decolonizing Archival Methodology: Combating hegemony and moving towards a collaborative archival environment

Abstract

The foundation of archival methodology is infl uenced by colonialism and imperialism. This paternalistic system has created a hegemonic environment that has directly infl uenced archivists working with Indigenous materials. While positive steps have been made, such as the enactment of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) and the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (2006), severe limitations exist due to a difference in worldview and cultural beliefs. In order to reverse the effects of hegemony and decolonize archival methodology, an exerted effort must be made to increase collaboration between archives and Indigenous communities. Furthermore, higher education must attract Indigenous students to information science programs in order to create a more diverse workforce. However, in order to enact lasting change in methodology, the archival profession must receive an injection of activist principles. These principles will help advance decolonizing initiatives and ensure the end of paternalism and colonialism in archival science.

We Are All Teachers: A Collaborative Approach to Digital Collection Development

“…Addressing this challenge with respect to older as well as newer, born-digital materials requires advocacy. Joining our discussions of archival rights and responsibilities to conversations about the need to uphold Native sovereignty and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a critical first step (Dalgleish 2011;Genovese 2016). In the meantime, repositories may want to think first about local, rather than national, funding sources and build partnerships between tribal and non-tribal institutions as a basis for sustaining collaborations even in the face of cuts to federal funding across the arts and humanities.…”

Decolonizing archival description: Can linked data help?

“…Recently, some archivists have persuasively argued that subjects of recordsand especially of colonial records or records documenting human rights abusesmust be viewed as co-creators of records created about them (McKemmish et al 2011;Caswell 2014;Iacovino 2010;Evans et al 2015). A new and significant focus on archival decolonization calls attention to traditional ideas about provenance as inherently Western and suggests that Indigenous ways of knowing might be incommensurate with traditional archival concepts and principles (Brands & Gooda 2006;Fraser and Todd 2016;Genovese 2016;Nakata 2012;Ghaddar 2016). How archivists represent the creation of records is emerging as an issue of social justice related to the power of archives to mediate societal memory (Wood et al 2016).…”

Arquivos deslocados

“…O retorno, a repatriação ou a restituição de bens culturais (Cornu e Renold, 2010;Scovazzi, 2014;Stamatoudi, 2011;Tașdelen, 2016;Zeidler, 2016) constituem mecanismos jurídicos desenvolvidos para o ressarcimento das comunidades ou países em função das circunstâncias incoativas da despossessão (Kowalski, 2005;Chechi, 2014). Além disto, a herança conjunta (Cox, 2017), a reunificação virtual (Punzalan, 2014) e a descolonização da representação da informação (Smith, 2012;Genovese, 2016) constituem medidas conciliatórias em alternativa às abordagens jurídicas. Qualquer uma destas estratégias pode suscitar problemas éticos, uma vez que a despossessão de bens culturais depende dos contextos sócio-geográficos, políticos e históricos ocorridos no passado (Belcher et al, 2016).…”