Toward an understanding of archives as a feature of collective memory

Josias, Anthea

doi:10.1007/s10502-011-9136-3

Cited by 35 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…These efforts explicitly draw from and upon fundamental ideas and practices of collective memory development and transformation, in particular the 'social constructedness' of collective memory (Harris 2007;Josias 2011;Daniel and Levi 2014), and the contributions and limitations offered by normative and newly emerging forms of archiving, such as participatory and community archiving. Participatory archiving, in part, involves creators and gives them substantial input and control over decisions and processes surrounding the archive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stories for Hope–Rwanda: a psychological–archival collaboration to promote healing and cultural continuity through intergenerational dialogue

et al. 2014

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Can archives help heal and extend the benefit of therapeutic interventions in a post-genocide environment? We sought to probe this question through an uncommon collaborative documentation and research project linking psychology and archival science: Stories for Hope-Rwanda (SFH). This intergenerational dialogue project between youth and elder pairs in post-genocide Rwanda draws upon a collective narrative model from psychology and both community and participatory models from archives. The paper reports on three aspects of this endeavor: (1) description of SFH as a process of dialogue generation and archiving; (2) content analysis of the knowledge post-genocide youth sought from their elders; and (3) a qualitative evaluation of what benefits youth and elder pairs reported 6-12 months after their dialogue session, including how participants made use of a personal copy of their dialogue and their decision making and perceptions on making their dialogues more widely available. Specifically, we wanted to know whether psychological benefits would accrue if the silences about genocide could be breached by intergenerational dialogues and whether audio recordings of the dialogues archived for personal, national, and international use could motivate youths and elders over the hurdle of silence and extend the benefits of the dialogues to others. In contrast to interview-driven genocide testimonies, each youth asked an elder to answer some burning questions about the past. In response, elders were directed to share personal, true, and positively helpful stories from their past experiences. Through these efforts, SFH consciously sought to democratize the creation, control, custody, and access to the archive resulting from the recorded dialogues. Based on our analysis, we found that youth were eager to learn most about the genocide (causes, prevention, and stories of loss and survival), followed by family history, marriage, Rwandan culture, living as an orphan, and strategies for forgiveness and reconciliation. We also found that the archival component of the project significantly contributed to both the motivation for participation and the extent of participants' healing. We conclude that this approach can be productively expanded to other postconflict and post-genocide communities where silence about a traumatic past reigns triumphant and undermines the ability of youth to map a positive future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stories for Hope–Rwanda: a psychological–archival collaboration to promote healing and cultural continuity through intergenerational dialogue

et al. 2014

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“…Without records, during cataclysmic upheaval, the conditions for “social amnesia” (Olick and Robbins :116) seem to apply as acts of collective memory are oriented to the present (Bardenstein ). Josias () finds that archives invoke key points of entry for the past into the collective memory. The destruction of old records, including oral histories, serves as a protection from old understandings of the past.…”

Section: Setting and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective Memory and Social Restructuring in the Case of Traditional Inuit Shamanism

Scott

2016

Symbolic Interaction

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This article explores the sociological processes of collective memory manipulation in unsettled times by analyzing a case study of the Church's displacement of traditional shamanism in Arviat, Nunavut. Collective memory studies, which examine regime transitions, focus on tracing the path of collective memory, rather than examining the mechanisms used to gain and keep control over collective memory. I argue that three elements are necessary for this kind of control: (1) shifting the "historical horizon" to temporally locate the competing institution firmly in the past within community memory, (2) manipulating the reputation of the competing, soon-to-be-previous institution, and (3) establishing a new moral framework. I center my argument primarily on the accomplishment of these elements using narrative and rhetoric, which emerged through inductive analysis.Aupilaarjuk was ready to start the interview and so it began. Inuit elders can do that. The equipment was not yet set up and no questions had been asked.He placed two rocks on the table. One was a stable rock, well-balanced and firmly sitting in place. The other rock was unsteady, an odd shape which tipped and pitched as Aupilaarjuk attempted to balance it on the table. Indicating the first rock, he told us that this was the Inuit before "the Church" came. Steady. Strong. He indicated the other rock and continued by saying that this was the Inuit after "the Church" came. Thrown off-center. Confused. I asked what he thought of the Church now. His granddaughter flatly told me that he was a lay-minister and would not ask the question.How can an understanding of the past be so divorced from the present? Studies have delineated how collective memory is shaped and remembered over time (Fine 2001;Schwartz 1991Schwartz , 2009Wagner-Pacifici and Schwartz 1991) and have explicitly stated the political importance of collective memory (

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“…En consecuencia, el hecho de llenar las lagunas que dejan los documentos escritos con testimonios implica la necesidad de replantear nociones como "evidencia" y "autenticidad" (Josias, 2011). Desde el punto de vista archivístico, supone una respuesta oportuna y creativa con el fin de construir una memoria colectiva democrá-tica e incluyente y promover la defensa de los derechos humanos.…”

Section: Documento Archivo Archivista: Repensando Significados Y Fuunclassified

“…6 Esta medida se toma con el fin de preservar y proteger los acervos y hacerlos accesibles de manera permanente y sin obstáculos (CNMH, 2014; González-Quintana, 2009;Huenuqueo, 2008 Otros estudios utilizan el concepto de memoria para situar el campo de archivos dentro de un ámbito más amplio como es el del patrimonio y la cultura material, destacando así su relación con otras instituciones culturales similares como es el caso de los museos, los memoriales, centros educativos, bibliotecas, entidades que tienen entre sus objetivos el sensibilizar a los ciudadanos frente a los horrores del pasado y generar acciones pedagógicas sobre la intolerancia, el totalitarismo, la violencia (Alberch, 2008;Josias, 2011).…”

Section: [Marta Lucia Giraldo Lopera]unclassified

Archivos, derechos humanos y memoria. Una revisión de la literatura académica internacional

Lopera

Lucía²

2017

Rev. Interam. Bibliot.

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ResumenEste artículo presenta un balance de las investigaciones, producidas en las dos úl-timas décadas, que estudian las relaciones entre archivos, derechos humanos y memoria colectiva. El análisis de los numerosos trabajos que abordan estas tres categorías es clasificado en cuatro enfoques: 1) la concepción del archivo como evidencia de violaciones a los derechos humanos; 2) la revisión crítica del rol que cumplen los documentos, los archivos y los archivistas en la construcción de la memoria colectiva; 3) la justicia social como guía orientadora de la praxis archivística; y 4) los archivos como lugares de memoria y territorios de disputa acerca de los distintos sentidos del pasado.Palabras clave: archivos, derechos humanos, memoria colectiva, estado del arte, archivología. Archives, Human Rights and Collective Memory. A Review of the International Academic Literature AbstractThis article features a summary of studies produced over the last two decades that research the relationships between archives, human rights and collective memory. The analysis of the numerous works that address these three categories was classified into four approaches: 1) the concept of archives as evidence of human rights violations; 2) a critical evaluation of the role of documents, archives and archivists in building collective memory; 3) social justice as a guide of archival praxis; and 4) archives as places of memory and territories of dispute related to different senses of the past.

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Toward an understanding of archives as a feature of collective memory

Cited by 35 publications

References 32 publications

Stories for Hope–Rwanda: a psychological–archival collaboration to promote healing and cultural continuity through intergenerational dialogue

Stories for Hope–Rwanda: a psychological–archival collaboration to promote healing and cultural continuity through intergenerational dialogue

Collective Memory and Social Restructuring in the Case of Traditional Inuit Shamanism

Archivos, derechos humanos y memoria. Una revisión de la literatura académica internacional

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