The Materials of Memory: Tracing Archives in Communication Studies

Abstract

This paper argues for the development of a communicative approach to investigating archives. Such an approach is vital if one wishes to review features ranging from political/cultural reference points to the ecology of communication in the modern state. Through spicing recent developments in the philosophy of mind with scientific publications on the bio-chemical cognitive process of memory, a case is presented where the archive-as-a-concept becomes foundational to any consideration of communication in the hopes of sparking a review of archival systems and their place within the wider body of communication theory.