Book: Ghosts of Archive: Deconstructive Intersectionality and Praxis by Verne Harris

Abstract

“All societies are haunted. All societies struggle to find liberatory ways of responding to their ghosts.” (p.1). This quote, from the first page of Harris’ book, sets out the central theme from the outset. Harris asserts that “archive is fundamentally – that is, structurally – spectral…For me, the call of justice is the most important human imperative. It is a call which sounds spectrally. And the work of archive is, in a word, justice.” (p.1) Verne Harris has had a long career in archives, both as practitioner and academic, and in this book he considers the ghosts of archives through his own experience, with a lens strongly influenced by the concepts of deconstruction – specifically, the writing of Jacques Derrida and Hélène Cixous - and Harris’ interest in Marxist, feminist and records continuum theory.