Educating for the Archival Multiverse (original) (raw)
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Communities of Memory": Pluralising Archival Research and Education Agendas
2005
Global archival frameworks of the kind imagined in the pluralising 4 th dimension of the records continuum model face a major challenge: how to build archival systems and associated practices that operate and inter-operate effectively worldwide, but respect and empower the local and indigenous. In this paper we explore the nature of that challenge and the implications for archival research and education agendas, and for archival science itself in an increasingly globalised world. Disclaimer: The authors are keenly aware that this article grapples with complex insider-outsider issues and is inevitably framed in terms of a particular world view. This may well be challenged by or will evolve based on the richer understandings of differing worldviews that it is hoped will flow from engaging with the local and the indigenous, and pluralising our research and education agendas on the basis of those understandings. We would also hope to see this engagement reflected in the pages of this an...
Archival Science, 2021
Who an archivist is-much less what an archivist does-has long remained an enigma. Glossing Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer (1782), Society of American Archivists president Posner (1957) mused, "What, Then, Is the American Archivist, This New Man?" Posner's rumination pointed to a complementary question, that is, how should an archivist, however defined, be educated? Expanding Posner's focus from the United States to North America, this exploratory qualitative case study unpacks the most pressing issues facing graduate archival educators and archival education more broadly. First, we review the literature. Second, we state our methodological approach. Third, we discuss findings, homing in on faculty, curriculum, interdisciplinarity and collaboration, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), digital technology, and sustainability. Fourth, our discussion addresses our findings' implications. Fifth, we offer conclusions and directions for future research. Cox (2000a) lamented, "indicative of [archival studies's] youthfulness is the fact that we have done so little research about our own educational programs" (p. 375). Two decades later, his observation remains valid. This article addresses this knowledge gap. Literature review Archival educators, the curriculum, interdisciplinarity and collaboration, diversity, equity, and inclusion, digital technology, and sustainability-all represent nodes of scholarly debate in North American archival discourse. Archival educators Though archival educators remain understudied (Gilliland, 2011), scholars discuss the need for full-time faculty, balancing teaching and research, and the faculty-practitioner relationship.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity in Contemporary Higher Education, 2018
This chapter uses the experience of two undergraduate students conducting research in their university archives to consider the “hidden curriculum” entailed in archival research at some institutions. When diverse identities and experiences are not represented in our archives, we run the risk of communicating a lack of value for those identities, producing a feeling of marginalization and exclusion for some students and foreclosing an opportunity to build solidarity across difference for others. In light of the limited holdings at many university archives and the increased prevalence of archival research in the undergraduate classroom, the authors draw on research from writing studies, anthropology, archival research, and public memory to produce recommendations for students, faculty, and institutions working to compose inclusive archives and research experiences.
Archival Science, 2011
Codes of ethics around the globe exhort archivists to neutrality so that they and their repositories will be trusted by records creators, the general public, and posterity to be impartial in their actions. However, archival neutrality is increasingly viewed as a controversial stance for a profession that is situated in the midst of the politics of memory. Archival educators have been prominent among those calling for the profession to address more directly the cultural and ethical dimensions of the role played by archives and records in society. This paper contemplates how archival neutrality and social justice concerns can surface within the context of archival education. Drawing upon experiences of the Department of Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), it suggests pedagogical approaches for raising and addressing ethics and diversity issues within a social justice framework, and for encouraging students, as future practitioners and scholars, to engage critically, reflexively, and meaningfully with these issues in ways that support the public trust in archives and the archival profession.
College & Research Libraries, 2021
While the act of defining typically underscores features that establish limits and exclusivity, this book honoring Richard J. Cox, a celebrated scholar, educator, mentor, and contributor to the archival discipline in the United States, does the opposite. Instead, this volume offers expanded and more inclusive meanings and values to archival scholarship, praxis, and pedagogy through the insightful essays written by Cox’s former students and colleagues. The essays, according to Bastian and Yakel, “seek to carry his vision of an archival discipline and the transformational power of scholarship forward. At the same time, push this vision into new, related directions” (ix). Indeed, this book pushes beyond the limits of archiving traditions that for many years have defined the discipline and how archivists understand why they do what they do.
Archival Research: A "New" Issue for Graduate Education
The American Archivist, 2000
To date, debate over graduate archival education has centered on the need for, and the nature of, the professional knowledge base to be imparted through master's education. A new emphasis on the acquisition of research skills and the conduct of research within graduate archival education at the master's and doctoral levels significantly extends this debate. Drawing on the experiences of the Archives and Preservation Management specialization at UCLA, this paper discusses issues associated with integrating research requirements and opportunities at master's and doctoral levels in graduate archival education. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for increased pluralism in archival education.
The American Archivist, 2008
The diversity and geographic dispersion of nations and peoples in the Pacific Rim pose fundamental conceptual and logistical challenges to archival education throughout the region. These challenges prompt us not only to give more attention to local and regional needs in developing our education programs, but also to examine more broadly their implications for archival education, theory, and practice globally. This paper begins by discussing the diverse nature of Pacific Rim countries, cultures, and communities, and then raises issues relating to the archival educational needs of its Indigenous and minority communities. It then reports the findings of the first phase of "Pluralizing the Archival Paradigm through Education," a collaborative project examining archival education in Pacific Rim nations and whether it meets the needs of Indigenous and local ethnic communities. Its findings to date suggest a need to develop and deliver culturally sensitive and responsive archival curricula and associated pedagogy inclusive of local and Indigenous knowledge and practices. They also suggest a need for the integration of such knowledge and practices into the global paradigm within which archival theory and practice are situated, thus making that paradigm more inclusive and less in danger of being a hegemonic or even neocolonial force. I n t r o d u c t i o n T
Seeking Glimpses: Reflections on Doing Archival Work
disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, 2018
This article explores the role of archival research in understanding and generating social histories from the perspectives of four different doctoral students as they reflect on their archival research experiences. We argue that archival research is complex, subjective, contextual, and at times, incomplete. Our various perspectives address ideas of privilege, representation, what it means to remember (or forget), how archives are constituted and reconstituted, and where we can make meaning in archival spaces. This article demonstrates that although archival research has had a presence in Composition and Rhetoric for some time, that presence is continually shifting, and even when embarking on archival research with comparable exigencies, the undertaking and experiences of that work is inconsistent. This article, therefore, explores the inconsistencies present in archival work, arguing that part of understanding archival research is understanding varied archival research experiences, perspectives, and understandings.
AlterNative, 2016
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.
American Archivist, 2023
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has long involved itself with graduate-level archival education. It has sponsored committees and subcommittees, guidelines, roundtables/sections, student chapters, and pre-conferences. But limited empirical evidence exists regarding faculty members' view of SAA's involvement with graduate archival education. This exploratory qualitative case study employs semistructured interviews with full-time, tenure-track archival faculty. We address the ways in which SAA contributes to faculty members' teaching, faculty members' encouragement of students to join SAA, SAA student chapters and faculty advising, and how SAA might promote better communication, coordination, and collaboration between graduate archival education programs and practitioners. We contend that despite decades of effort on both sides, the relationship between graduate archival education programs and the Society of American Archivists remains disjointed, ultimately limiting the field's development. We offer recommendations and suggestions for future research to strengthen this relationship in the interest of improving student experience and the health of the profession.