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The article analyses the second life of the concept of genocide In public, scholarly and legal post-2006 discourses about how to deal with the communist past In Romania. It counterpoises such problematic radical condemnations with recent developments In local historical studies. The contribution focuses on a new generation of historians (In their thirties and early forties), exemplifying these approaches by discussing novel studies about repression, Institutions and biographies. It argues...

Beginning in 1946, the United States government immorally and unethically—and, arguably, illegally—engaged in research experiments in which more than 5000 uninformed and unconsenting Guatemalan people were intentionally infected with bacteria that cause sexually transmitted diseases. Many have been left untreated to the present day., Although US President Barack Obama apologized in 2010, and although the US Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues found the Guatemalan...

This essay argues that archival paradigms over the past 150 years have gone through four phases: from juridical legacy to cultural memory to societal engagement to community archiving. The archivist has been transformed, accordingly, from passive curator to active appraiser to societal mediator to community facilitator. The focus of archival thinking has moved from evidence to memory to identity and community, as the broader intellectual currents have changed from pre-modern to modern to...

The concept of “collective” or “social” memory has assumed increasing prominence in the discourse of archivists over the past few decades. Archives are frequently characterized as crucial institutions of social memory, and many professional activities are considered forms of memory preservation. We present a systematic examination of the relationships between archives and collective memory as articulated in the English-language archival literature. We first identify the major themes...

This paper outlines the construction of the ‘‘official’’ archives of the South African apartheid state and the distorted view they contain concerning social and political realities. Therefore, the colonial and apartheid legacies are examined in a broader context as an oppressive social and political system, as well as in the more specific context of how their legacy is reflected in the official archives. The development and popular endorsement of the Freedom Charter of 1955 was a seminal moment...

People from different weak groups struggling for justice may be dependent on archive material to document and substantiate their claims. In this paper I discuss the question of to what extent we as archivists are aware of our role as rulers of the archives. As an example, I use the Norwegian war children and the importance of information from the archives of the Norwegian National Archives for them both individually and as a group in society. I also discuss how we as Civil Servants and...

Almost a decade following the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, most Iraqi state documents stemming from Saddam Hussein's regime remain in the possession of the United States. U.S. military forces seized the majority of them in the invasion and occupation for intelligence exploitation, approximately a hundred pages of records and thousands of audio- and videotapes from Hussein's various bureaucracies of repression. Another 5.5 million pages of secret police files chronicling Hussein's Anfal...

This paper examines four economic and political themes that are relevant to international heritage preservation and archives efforts. Collaborations that involve multiple players such as industrialized nations, international heritage organizations, and postcolonial or economically developing regions will inevitably be laden with sociopolitical and economic entanglements that affect preservation outcomes and modern cultural development. Drawing on the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project in Mali for...

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the preeminent international instrument elaborating on the rights of Indigenous peoples. It contains the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous peoples all over the world. As a consequence, the Declaration provides a blueprint for Indigenous peoples, governments and other third parties around the world to respect the rights and roles of Indigenous peoples within society. At its core, the...

The phrase “peace, order and good government,” common to the definition of federal powers in both the Australian and the Canadian constitutions, has defined the relationship of the Crown and the citizen for more than five centuries. The archival record is fundamental to that relationship, providing its authoritative legal basis, documenting its evolution and continuing as a reminder of both our proudest achievements and our most dismal failures as a society. This paper reflects on the role...

This article highlights the extent to which international law has changed rapidly in recent years in relation to the rights of Indigenous peoples generally, and in particular how this impacts upon the legal status of traditional knowledge and culture. It reviews the recognition of the unique legal status of Māori in Aotearoa and Aboriginal peoples in Canada in relation to selfdetermination and how their changing place within these nations are affecting the operations of museums, libraries...

The state of the public sector in South Africa is heavily influenced by particular histories of state administration related to the legacy of apartheid and the nature of the political transition to democracy. We suggest, however, that there is a paucity of scholarly work in the discipline of Public Administration which takes into account this legacy and the manner in which the public sector is embedded in broader social, political and economic relations. This has had significant consequences...

The focus on wrongs —evil, crimes against humanity, disappearances, genocide— and the archival records of wrongs is fundamentally important and we must not lose sight of that. But by looking at the phrase “archives and human rights” in only those terms, we miss the hugely important sets of records that are not related to State crimes, not in the hands of the state, and are vital to protect—not only to contest the loss of—human rights.

This paper deals with issues of power and silencing of the “Other” within colonial archives, particularly regarding British East India Company records of an attempted mutiny of Bengali sepoys and Javanese aristocrats in 1815, now housed in the India Office Records of the British Library. It recommends incorporating a postcolonial approach and reading records against the grain in order to recover these marginalized voices. The body of this paper is broken into three sections. The first...