Opening Archives: Respectful Repatriation

Abstract

A b s t r a c tIn the last twenty years, many collecting institutions have heeded the calls by indigenous activists to integrate indigenous models and knowledge into mainstream practices. The digital terrain poses both possibilities and problems for indigenous peoples as they seek to manage, revive, circulate, and create new cultural heritage within overlapping colonial/postcolonial histories and oftentimes-binary public debates about access in a digital age. While digital technologies allow for items to be repatriated quickly, circulated widely, and annotated endlessly, these same technologies pose challenges to some indigenous communities who wish to add their expert voices to public collections and also maintain some traditional cultural protocols for the viewing, circulation, and reproduction of some materials. This case study examines one collaborative archival project aimed at digitally repatriating and reciprocally curating cultural heritage materials of the Plateau tribes in the Pacific Northwest.

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

“…The development of this paternalistic way of thinking has shaped modern archival theory into a hegemonic system that has been perpetuated in the past by a lack of activism within the fi eld, as discussed by many scholars (Anderson, 2005;Christen, 2011;Cook, 1997;Jimerson, 2007;Kakaliouras, 2012;Nakata, 2012;O'Neal, 2015;Paisley & Reid, 2013). This is partially due to the fact that archival institutions have dodged public scrutiny more than other institutions concerned with collective memory such as museums, monuments, galleries, and libraries (Cook, 1997;Gilliland, 2011).…”

“…Furthermore, they acknowledge that each Indigenous community is unique and call on archivists to utilize the Protocols when initiating communication and collaboration with those communities (Christen, 2011;Underhill, 2006). The Protocols also aim to build respect and reciprocity between non-Indigenous archival institutions and Indigenous communities that will lead to "collaboration and shared stewardship of collections" (O'Neal, 2014).…”

Critical Directions for Archival Approaches to Social Justice

“…Michelle Caswell (2013b) defines archival pluralism as "the acknowledgement of and engagement with, multiple coexisting archival realities-that is, fundamentally differing but equally valid ways of being and knowingmost commonly made manifest in the archival realm by (sometimes) irreconcilably divergent-but still credible-ways of defining, transmitting, and interpreting evidence and memory." At its core is the active acknowledgement of cultural difference, Indigenous epistemologies, and multiple ways of knowing as equally valid perspectives of knowledge creation (PACG 2011;Christen 2011;McKemmish, Faulkhead and Russell 6 2011). Such pluralist approaches to archival practice have a long history traceable to early efforts to create more inclusive archives (Zinn 1971;Booms 1987;Cook 1992;Harris 2007;Eastwood 2002;Flinn, Stevens and Shepherd 2009;.…”

“…In some instances, Indigenous communities have greater control over the preservation of and access to digital materials related to their history and culture. Projects such as the Inuvialuit Living History (http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca) and the Plateau Peoples' Web Portal (http://plateauportal.wsulibs.wsu.edu/) provide platforms that support Indigenous knowledge systems and values over digital access to the archival holdings of various institutions (Christen, 2011). The American Philosophical Society and the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives have existing protocols with specific Native American communities to maintain collaborative relationships over the preservation and representation of indigenous materials.…”

“…A number of reports simultaneously point to the contentious nature and the liberating effects of digital projects (Roy and Christal 2002;Naka et al 2008;Pilcher and Vermeylen 2008;Vermeylen and Pilcher 2009;Christen 2011;Dawson, Levy and Lyons 2011;Leopold 2013). Digitized collections stimulate discussions around notions of institutional ownership and authority versus community knowledge and history, the relationship of the object kept in repositories with their source communities, and the ethics of open and unhindered display of artifacts (Pilcher and Vermeylen 2008;Vermeylen and Pilcher 2009;Christen 2011;Leopold 2013). Because the practice of collecting, preserving, and exhibiting collections is inextricably linked with the history of colonialism, heritage professionals and administrators responsible for these materials must also weigh appropriate cultural protocols in displaying cultural heritage online.…”