Indigenous archives through time and space
Towards a continuum model to explain the complex contexts of indigenous archives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26686/arch.10674Keywords:
Archives -- Administration, Archives -- Moral and ethical aspects, Records -- Social aspects, Indigenous peoples -- Ethnic identity, Māori (New Zealand people) -- Material culture, Whare tukunga kōrero, Taonga, Whakahoki taongaAbstract
This article discusses the Continuum Perspective on archives and the principles and perspectives of the Records Continuum Model, proposing two modals dealing with archives in certain contexts, and moving towards a Continuum Model for Indigenous Archives. Frings-Hessami outlines the Appropriated Archive Continuum Model and the Repurposed Archive Continuum Model. The Appropriated Archive Continuum Model deals with the processes involved when an archive is appropriated by a new regime and used for different purposes. An example discussed is the prison records of the Khmer Rouge being used as evidence of their crimes after falling into the hands of the new Cambodian government. The Repurposed Archive Continuum Model deals with the processes involved when organisational records are reclaimed by the subjects of those records. An example discussed is adult Care Leavers - seeking to understand what had happened to them - claiming records created by Australian child welfare agencies for children in institutional care in the twentieth century. A model for Indigenous archives dealing with the misappropriation of Indigenous cultural objects is discussed (including Māori cultural objects). It is suggested these archives may be repurposed to recognise Indigenous rights, increase Indigenus peoples' access to archives relevant to them, and/or transferred to Indigenous comunities or organisations for their custodianship.
Metadata reused from the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa under a CC BY 4.0 license.
