{"title":"Whose provenance? Plurality of provenance and the redistribution of archival authority","authors":"Jesse Boiteau","doi":"10.1007/s10502-024-09453-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Since the end the of Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Mandate in 2015, archives and archivists are now acknowledging both the role that archives played in the colonization of Canada and the urgent need to decolonize archival practices to accommodate the marginalized voices of those silenced by traditional archival theory and practice. In the case of the archives at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, these are the voices of the residential school Survivors, their families, and their home communities. These voices have the power to fill gaps in historical narratives and confront the millions of colonial records created by the government departments and religious entities that ran the schools for more than a century. That said, how do we transition from acknowledging our past role as protectors of colonialism’s documented “success” to successfully implementing decolonizing practices? This paper deconstructs colonial records and colonial “truth” to understand the plurality of provenance in archives. This is especially important as Indigenous communities develop their own archives in pursuit of Indigenous data sovereignty and the power associated with archival authority and whose provenance we choose to recognize and preserve.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46131,"journal":{"name":"ARCHIVAL SCIENCE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ARCHIVAL SCIENCE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10502-024-09453-x","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Since the end the of Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Mandate in 2015, archives and archivists are now acknowledging both the role that archives played in the colonization of Canada and the urgent need to decolonize archival practices to accommodate the marginalized voices of those silenced by traditional archival theory and practice. In the case of the archives at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, these are the voices of the residential school Survivors, their families, and their home communities. These voices have the power to fill gaps in historical narratives and confront the millions of colonial records created by the government departments and religious entities that ran the schools for more than a century. That said, how do we transition from acknowledging our past role as protectors of colonialism’s documented “success” to successfully implementing decolonizing practices? This paper deconstructs colonial records and colonial “truth” to understand the plurality of provenance in archives. This is especially important as Indigenous communities develop their own archives in pursuit of Indigenous data sovereignty and the power associated with archival authority and whose provenance we choose to recognize and preserve.
期刊介绍:
Archival Science promotes the development of archival science as an autonomous scientific discipline. The journal covers all aspects of archival science theory, methodology, and practice. Moreover, it investigates different cultural approaches to creation, management and provision of access to archives, records, and data. It also seeks to promote the exchange and comparison of concepts, views and attitudes related to recordkeeping issues around the world.Archival Science''s approach is integrated, interdisciplinary, and intercultural. Its scope encompasses the entire field of recorded process-related information, analyzed in terms of form, structure, and context. To meet its objectives, the journal draws from scientific disciplines that deal with the function of records and the way they are created, preserved, and retrieved; the context in which information is generated, managed, and used; and the social and cultural environment of records creation at different times and places.Covers all aspects of archival science theory, methodology, and practiceInvestigates different cultural approaches to creation, management and provision of access to archives, records, and dataPromotes the exchange and comparison of concepts, views, and attitudes related to recordkeeping issues around the worldAddresses the entire field of recorded process-related information, analyzed in terms of form, structure, and context