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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...

El investigador en temas de Trabajo y Seguridad Social de la Universidad del País Vasco (UPV), Juan Hernández Zubizarreta, y el investigador del Observatorio de la Deuda de la Globalización (ODG), Jesús Carrión, desgranan en este artículo los efectos de una nueva Lex Mercatoria que condiciona, de forma asimétrica, el ejercicio y tutela de derechos a nivel internacional. Los autores presentan las dinámicas y efectos del poder político, económico y jurídico del que gozan las empresas...

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...

Résumé Pendant la guerre d'indépendance algérienne, la justice constitua une des armes du combat contre les nationalistes et ceux qui les soutenaient. Fondée sur des législations d'exception, cette intervention fut massive et impliqua d'emblée les tribunaux militaires. L'ensemble de la guerre fut d'ailleurs marqué par un processus de militarisation de la justice. Cette répression judiciaire eut pour principal effet la multiplication des peines capitales dont 200, environ, furent suivies...

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...

Apresenta problematização e resultados parciais de estudo que se insere em debate em curso na Ciência da Informação, envolvendo a delimitação de seu objeto central: a informação – em suas variadas conceituações – ou o documento – em sua materialidade, da ordem da institucionalidade e gerador de efeitos sociais (Frohmann). A pesquisa, de cunho teórico- conceitual, testa o conceito/hipótese de modo de acreditação e distribuição social de saberes, fundado na divisão de Nora entre sociedades de...

Uma filosofia da informação fundamenta-se em uma filosofia da documentação. A concepção de Nunberg sobre o fenômeno da informação anuncia um deslocamento do foco na questão “O que é informação?” para uma investigação crítica das fontes e da legitimação da própria questão. As analogias entre a desconstrução que Wittgenstein faz das abordagens filosóficas ao significado e uma correspondente desconstrução das abordagens filosóficas à informação sugerem que como a informatividade de um documento...

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...

Climate change has adverse implications for a wide range of human rights. Low-lying, socio-economically disadvantaged small island developing states are among those most vulnerable to climate change harms – including rising sea levels and extreme weather events – which threaten the habitability of their territory and the enjoyment of basic human rights, including the right to self-determination. Customary international law and international human rights law establish extraterritorial...

El artículo aborda algunas de las cuestiones archivísticas que aparecieron durante una investigación judicial realizada por el Ministerio público de Roma (Italia) sobre las violaciones de derechos humanos en Sudamérica en los años 1970. Concretamente, la investigación se centró en el asesinato de algunos ciudadanos italo-argentinos e italo-uruguayos, por, posiblemente, agentes secretos que pertenecieron al Sistema de Cóndor. El trabajo aborda tres puntos diferente - aunque...

Abstract1. Through an exchange between members of community-based organizations that document human rights violations in northwest Colombia and northern Uganda