Between Words and Silence

Q2 Social Sciences
Culture Unbound Pub Date : 2022-07-07 DOI:10.3384/cu.4067
Monika Golonka-Czajkowska, Stanisława Trebunia-Staszel
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

This article tackles the risks of digitization of sensitive collections and the ethical limits of open access. Research into experience of conflicts and violence requires the submerging into a world of local taboos and practices that usually remain within the sphere of cultural intimacy. Similarly, the digitization of sensitive collections can grant an un-curated uncontrolled access to realms which should be handled with ethical awareness and sensitivity. We focus on two case-studies referring to the Podhale, a region in the Tatra Mountains inhabited by local people called Górale. The first one is the archive of Nazi anthropological photography and documentation recently rediscovered at the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA). Its digitization in 2007 marked the start of a research project on WWII anthropology in Podhale, evoking at the same time an ardent and emotional debate among both scholars and the Górale community. The most serious issues referred to the impact of the digitized photographs on the present-day collective memory of the Górale. In fact, till the archive’s discovery and digitization, the episode of Nazi racial research was literally cast out from local history and memory. In this article we will ask how to deal with such materials and conduct research among people, for whom such documentation invokes unwanted and traumatic experiences. The second case-study focuses on contemporary memory conflicts related to the anti-communist guerrilla group “B?yskawica” (Lightning) operating in the aftermath of WWII on the Polish-Slovak border in the Tatra Mountains region. Accused by communist authorities of war-crimes, these partisans were officially rehabilitated only in the aftermath of the Polish Revolution of 1989. Memories about “B?yskawica” are still very vivid in this region evoking conflicting feelings from undisputed glorification to total condemnation. This article will inquire into the ambiguous digital discourses in the social media around such conflicting memories build on digitized resources from the archives of the former secret police (now deposited at the Institute of National Remembrance; INR - Institut Pami?ci Narodowej, IPN ). Both case-studies deal with a similar period, region, type of sources (archives produced in the past by the regime’s institutions of power). Both refer to the memory of experiences of violence, difficult choices, local conflicts, oppressive regimes and practices. We argue that the transition of such sensitive data into the digital realm raises the danger of manipulation by various interest groups, arbitrary defragmentation and reconfiguration. It can enliven and even reinforce old conflicts, generate new ones and even undermine the fragile social and cultural balance within a community.      
言语与沉默之间
本文讨论了敏感馆藏数字化的风险和开放获取的伦理限制。对冲突和暴力经验的研究需要深入到当地禁忌和习俗的世界中,这些禁忌和习俗通常仍在文化亲密范围内。类似地,敏感收藏的数字化可以授予对应该以道德意识和敏感性处理的领域的未经管理的不受控制的访问。我们重点关注两个案例研究,涉及Podhale,这是塔特拉山脉的一个地区,当地人居住在Górale。第一个是最近在史密森学会档案馆(SIA)重新发现的纳粹人类学摄影和文献档案。2007年,它的数字化标志着Podhale第二次世界大战人类学研究项目的开始,同时在学者和Górale社区之间引发了一场热烈而激动人心的辩论。最严重的问题是数字化照片对Górale当前集体记忆的影响。事实上,在档案被发现和数字化之前,纳粹种族研究的这一事件实际上已经从当地的历史和记忆中消失了。在本文中,我们将探讨如何处理这些材料,并在人们之间进行研究,因为这些文件会引发不想要的和创伤性的经历。第二个案例研究的重点是与反共游击队“B?二战后在波兰和斯洛伐克边境塔特拉山脉地区的“闪电”。这些游击队员被共产党当局指控犯有战争罪,直到1989年波兰革命之后才被正式恢复名誉。关于“B”的记忆?“伊斯卡维卡”在这个地区仍然非常生动,引发了从无可争议的赞美到完全谴责的矛盾情绪。本文将探讨社交媒体中围绕这种冲突记忆的模糊数字话语,这些记忆建立在前秘密警察档案(现存放在国家纪念研究所;INR -帕米研究所?ci Narodowej, IPN)。这两个案例研究都涉及相似的时期、地区和来源类型(过去由政权权力机构制作的档案)。两者都指的是对暴力经历、艰难选择、地方冲突、压迫性政权和做法的记忆。我们认为,将这些敏感数据转移到数字领域会增加各种利益集团操纵、任意整理和重新配置的危险。它可以激活甚至加剧旧的冲突,产生新的冲突,甚至破坏社区内脆弱的社会和文化平衡。
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来源期刊
Culture Unbound
Culture Unbound Social Sciences-Cultural Studies
CiteScore
0.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
32
审稿时长
20 weeks
期刊介绍: Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research is a journal for border-crossing cultural research, globally open to articles from all areas in this large field, including cultural studies as well as other interdisciplinary and transnational currents for exploring cultural perspectives, issues and phenomena. It is peer-reviewed and easily accessible for downloading as open access. Culture Unbound is hosted by Linköping University Electronic Press (LiU E-Press, www.ep.liu.se). It is based on a co-operation between three Linköping University units that provide a unique profile to the journal, bridging regional and global research traditions: -The Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS), with interdisciplinary transnational exchange. -The Department of Culture Studies (Tema Q), with interdisciplinary research and PhD education.
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