We Need These Bodies, but Not Their Knowledge: Black Women in the Archival Science Professions and Their Connection to the Archives of Enslaved Black Women in the French Antilles

Abstract

Despite calls for diversity and minority participation in library and information science (LIS) and archival science, these professions have seen little change in this respect over the past two decades. This paper attempts to connect the archived, enslaved black woman of the French Antilles to the contemporary black woman in the United States. The paucity of archival materials on the first group is reflective of the low incidence of the second group in today's archives profession. That is, the way in which black women of the Americas have been historically misrepresented or not represented at all can be connected to recruitment and retention problems in the archival profession. If black women are not recognized as worthwhile subjects in the archives, and presently not valued as knowers, how can they be accepted as library and archive professionals? If the archives are where origin stories are excavated, black women-through the profession of archival science-have a role to play in the administration and management of archival materials concerning the historical enslavement of black women. The paper will specifically discuss concepts from archival appraisal theory and highlight the ways in which power influences the collection of archival materials. Also, educational and training solutions that include black feminist thought, critical race theory, and cognitive justice are discussed. "What can a niggerwoman do but endure? What can me do but tell the story? Who is there when we recall great womens?"-Marlon James, The Book of Night Women According to the American Library Association's (ALA) 2007 Diversity Counts report and the HistoryMakers' (2013) "Education: Assessment of Need"

Prototyping collaborative (co-)archiving practices: From archival appraisal to co-archival facilitation

“…Black women have historically been misrepresented in society, pushed to the margin, and not listened to by the dominant culture [9]. There are of course many reasons behind this fact, but one aspect that the study puts an emphasis on is the claim that the misrepresentation of black women is connected to recruitment problems in the archival profession.…”

“…To address the underrepresentation of marginalised communities in archives is nothing new [9]. Already in the 70's critique towards the "bias in the documentation of culture" [6] was put forward.…”

“…There was a call for compiling more representative archives of society by going from biased archival records to more representative records of human experience. Despite serious attempts at addressing these shortcomings there seems to be little change achieved over the past decades [6] [9].…”

“…The first case is a study focusing on representations of black women in archives, the relationship between archives and power, and the notion of the archive as being a tool of social control [9]. Black women have historically been misrepresented in society, pushed to the margin, and not listened to by the dominant culture [9].…”

“…There are of course many reasons behind this fact, but one aspect that the study puts an emphasis on is the claim that the misrepresentation of black women is connected to recruitment problems in the archival profession. It ought to be acknowledged that the archival profession is still culturally homogeneous, and as human beings we handle materials differently if we are the subjects of a collection and can relate to it, or not [9].…”