Antiracism & Decolonization in Archives & Records Management: Open Classroom Series
March 2, 2023
Join us for the Winter 2023 edition of the open classroom series on antiracism and decolonization in the information professions, with a focus on archival and records management in this academic term.
The open classrooms are hosted at the University of Manitoba’s History Department, sponsored by Dalhousie’s School of Information Management and CUNY’s Archival Technologies Lab, and supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. They are taking place as part of graduate courses taught by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar, which are: HIST7372 History of Archiving & Archival Records (Fall 2022) at the University of Manitoba’s History Department, and INFO6370 Records Management (Winter 2023) at Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management.
Contact: Dr. Jamila Ghaddar at director@archiveslab.org.
Note: CDST refers to local Winnipeg time. ADST refers to local Halifax time.
Winter 2023 Schedule:
Wed 15 March @ 1pm ADST (Halifax, NS) / 11am CDST (Winnipeg, MB): “Community connections: plural provenance theory & the role of archives and records in Indigenous community-led research,” a lecture by Jesse Boiteau, Head of Archives, National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation. Co-hosted with Dr. Greg Bak, Associate Professor, Archival Studies M.A. Program, History Dept., University of Manitoba.
Abstract: It is no longer a secret or revelation in the wider archival community that western or colonial archives and records played a role in the colonization of Indigenous peoples around the globe. The process of reconciling this fact has been handled differently by archives in various regions, and for the most part has been a tentative and slow process in fear of not engaging the right way or making a misstep in connecting with the Indigenous communities and peoples represented in their holdings. In May of 2021, this tentativeness changed forever. When the 215 potential gravesites of children were identified by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc at the Kamloops Residential School site, the urgency for archives and records to build meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities was sent into overdrive. Read more
Wed 22 March 22 @ 1pm ADST (Halifax, NS) / 11am CDST (Winnipeg, MB): “When there is no archives: decolonial archiving and oral records in Mau Mau history,” a lecture with Rose Miyonga, PhD Candidate, University of Warwick. Co-hosted with Cameron Welsh, student in the Master of Archival Studies program, School of Information, University of British Columbia.
Abstract: In the 1950s, the British colonial government launched a brutal counterinsurgency against the revolutionary Mau Mau movement in Kenya. In an effort to quash the anticolonial uprising, British colonialists imprisoned over 150,000 people without trial in detention camps where torture and murder were commonplace. In the early 1960s, as the British began their exit from empire in Kenya, they took with them the evidence of this brutality. Hundreds of thousands of archival documents detailing their atrocities were destroyed, and many more were stolen away to a secret archive in the United Kingdom. Read more
Wed 29 March @ 1pm ADST (Halifax, NS) / 11am CDST (Winnipeg, MB): “Digitality, crowdsourcing and the photographic record: archival losses and alternatives in Kenya in the shadow of repatriation,” a roundtable with Chao Tayiana (co-founder of Digital Heritage, Museum of British Colonialism and Open Restitution Africa); Maureen Mumbua (Digitisation Coordinator, Book Bunk) and Max Pinckers (Artist and Guest Lecturer, School of Arts KASK & Conservatorium) in conversation with Rose Miyonga (PhD Candidate, History Dept., University of Warwick).
Abstract: In conversation with Rose Miyonga, this roundtable brings together trailblazing and innovative practitioners and scholars working to address the many gaps, silences and erasures in Kenyan archival memory and documentary heritage due to the history and legacies of British colonial rule and its brutal counterinsurgency practices in the country. With a focus on resistant and marginalized histories and perspectives, participants will share their experiences with a range of alternative approaches to address the archival gaps and silences, from crowdsourcing and “imagined records” to living archives and participatory documentary projects. Read more
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