Disputed Archival Heritage

Disputed Archival Heritage brings important new perspectives into the discourse on displaced archives. In contrast to shared or joint heritage framings, the book considers the implications of force, violence and loss in the displacement of archival heritage. With chapters from established and emerging scholars in archival studies, Disputed Archival Heritage extends and enriches the conversation that started with the earlier volume, Displaced Archives. Advancing novel theories and methods for understanding disputes and claims over archives, the volume includes chapters that focus on Indigenous records in settler colonial states; literary and community archives; sub-national and private sector displacements; successes in repatriating formerly displaced archives; comparisons with cultural objects seized by colonial powers and the relationship between repatriation and reparations. Analysing key concepts such as joint heritage and provenance, the contributors unsettle Western understandings of records, place and ownership. Disputed Archival Heritage speaks to the growing interest in shared archival heritage, repatriation of cultural artefacts and cultural diasporas. As such, it will be a useful resource for academics, students and practitioners working in the field of archives, records and information management, as well as cultural property and heritage management, peace and conflict studies and international law.

Displaced archives have long been a problem and their existence continues to trouble archivists, historians and government officials. Displaced Archives brings together leading international experts to comprehensively explore the current state of affairs for the first time. Drawing on case studies from around the world, the authors examine displaced archives as a consequence of conflict and colonialism, analysing their impact on government administration, nation building, human rights and justice. Renewed action is advocated through considerations of the legal approaches to repatriation, the role of the international archival community, ‘shared heritage’ approaches and other solutions. The volume offers new theoretical, technical and political insights and will be essential reading for practitioners, academics and students in the field of archives, cultural property and heritage management, as well as history, politics and international relations.

The Materiality of the Archive is the first volume to bring together a range of methodological approaches to the materiality of archives, as a framework for their engagement, analysis and interpretation. Focusing on the archives of creative practices, the book reaches between and across existing bodies of knowledge in this field, including material culture, art history and literary studies, unified by an interest in archives as material deposits and aggregations, in both analogue and digital forms, as well as the material encounter. Connecting a breadth of disciplinary interests in the archive with expanding discourses in materiality, contributors address the potential of a material engagement to animate archival content. Analysing the systems, processes and actions that constitute the shapes, forms and structures in which individual archival objects accumulate, and the underpinnings which may hold them in place as an archival body, the book considers ways in which the inexorable move to the digital affects traditional theories of the physical archival object. It also considers how stewardship practices such as description and metadata creation can accommodate these changes. The Materiality of the Archive unifies theory and practice and brings together professional and academic perspectives. The book is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students working in the fields of archive studies, museology, art history and material culture.

The treatment of cultural colonial objects is one of the most debated questions of our time. Calls for a new international cultural order go back to decolonization. However, for decades, the issue has been treated as a matter of comity or been reduced to a Shakespearean dilemma: to return or not to return. Confronting Colonial Objects seeks to go beyond these classic dichotomies and argues that contemporary practices are at a tipping point. The book shows that cultural takings were material to the colonial project throughout different periods and went far beyond looting. It presents micro histories and object biographies to trace recurring justifications and contestations of takings and returns while outlining the complicity of anthropology, racial science, and professional networks that enabled colonial collecting. The book demonstrates the dual role of law and cultural heritage regulation in facilitating colonial injustices and mobilizing resistance thereto. Drawing on the interplay between justice, ethics, and human rights, Stahn develops principles of relational cultural justice. He challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time and outlines how future engagement requires a re-invention of knowledge systems and relations towards objects, including new forms of consent, provenance research, and partnership, and a re-thinking of the role of museums themselves. Following the life story and transformation of cultural objects, this book provides a fresh perspective on international law and colonial history that appeals to audiences across a variety of disciplines. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

The Nordic Model of Digital Archiving explores the roots and strengths of Nordic digital archiving and proposes new directions to guide digital archivists in addressing the challenges posed by ever- changing digital technologies and the datafication of information and records. Digitization and born-digital records promise efficient and cost-effective solutions to everything from preservation of data to easy user access. However, digitization also poses challenges for archival practitioners worldwide. Bringing together contributions from practitioners and academics to offer a range of international case studies, this book offers practical solutions for archivists in terms of governance, technologies and processes. It highlights and analyses the cornerstones of the Nordic model of archiving: reliance on standards; powerful regulatory instruments -, especially in public sector archiving, including legislation; and collaboration between archivists and government agencies, and among different tiers of central and local government. While showcasing work in the Nordic region for the benefit of archivists and record keepers globally, this volume also challenges the limits of the Nordic model with insights drawn from international archival theory. The Nordic Model of Digital Archiving offers a new perspective on archiving that will be of interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students of archiving, digital archives and records management.

The renewed interest in matters of state succession which accompanied the dissolution of three multinational, socialist states in post-communist Europe inspired the preparation of this book. The book aims to provide both practical lessons of individual countries being directly involved in matters of state succession, and more theoretical contributions to expand the body of conceptual literature in this area. Its contributions address a wide variety of matters, ranging from problems associated with the recognition of states, issues of state succession with respect to international treaties and membership in international organizations, through specific issues such as citizenship, external debts and archives. The diversity of contributions therefore provides a relatively complete survey of matters pertaining to succession of states, especially those relating to the legal, economic and financial aspects. While some authors address universal questions of state succession or the issue of membership in international organizations, most contributions focus on issue-specific problems involving state succession to three Central and Eastern European states and, in particular, the break-up of the SFRY. The contributors are policy-makers, academic lawyers and economists actively involved in succession of states issues, either in their respective countries or in various international fora. The majority of contributions collected in this book are updated and revised versions of articles published in the December 1996 issue of Development and International Cooperation.

Cultural heritage has tremendous importance in human development. The communication of culture is determinant for society, whereas that of heritage can be a driving force for individual development. If cultural heritage is communicated and incorporated into the educational development of children from the very beginning, it will contribute to the formation of their entire lives and sustainable social development. Combining Modern Communication Methods With Heritage Education provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area. It shows that heritage related to information provision is to be started at a very early age and continued by schools and later educational forms. Covering topics such as cultural heritage, world heritage education, and indigenous archives, this premier reference work is an essential resource for educators and administrators of both K-12 and higher education, pre-service teachers, teacher educators, sociologists, anthropologists, business leaders and executives, marketers, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

This book contains the first and second volume papers from the 8th International Conference on the History of Records and Archives (I-CHORA 8). Contributors present articles that propose new solutions and aspirations for a new era in the technology of archives and recordkeeping. Topics cover rethinking the role played by archivists, and reframing recordkeeping practices that focus on the rights of the subjects of the records. This text appeals to students, researchers and professionals in the field. Previously published in: Archival Science: "Special Issue: Archives in a Changing Climate - Part I" and "Archives in a Changing Climate - Part II" Chapter "Displaced archives": proposing a research agenda is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.