Abstract
This paper explores the role of archival activism in supporting social movements linked to human rights and social justice agendas. Taking a records continuum perspective, it presents an Australian case study relating to the Stolen Generations, Former Child Migrants, Forgotten Australians and Forced Adoption communities to illustrate imperatives for advocacy and activism in support of the “archival autonomy” of communities. Framed by critical theory, the study identifies and analyses systemic problems in meeting the recordkeeping and archival identity, memory, accountability, redress and recovery needs of these key communities. The devastating impact of both finding and not finding relevant information is highlighted, along with how systemic and structural difficulties in seeking access to vital evidence can be re-traumatising. Using reflexivity and the Movement Action Plan as an analytical tool, the case study reflects on the activist role archival research and development projects can potentially play, using the Who Am I? and Trust and Technology Projects as exemplars. The paper explores how an extended suite of rights in records, stretching beyond discovery and access to appraisal, description and disclosure, and linked to records continuum concepts of co-creation and multiple provenance, and the emergent concept of the participatory archive, might support community self-determination in the context of human rights and social justice agendas, with particular reference to the rights of the child. Additionally, the paper explores a new concept of archival autonomy and its relationship to community self-determination. Archival autonomy is tentatively defined as the ability for individuals and communities to participate in societal memory, with their own voice, and to become participatory agents in recordkeeping and archiving for identity, memory and accountability purposes. The achievement of archival autonomy is identified as a grand societal challenge, with the need for archival activism to become an integral part of social movements on a local and global scale. The paper concludes with a proposed National Summit on the Archive and the Rights of the Child, envisaged as a vehicle for archival advocacy and activism leading to transformative action to address social justice and human rights agendas in Australia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Archival frameworks are the law, policies, cultural and ethical mores, archival theories and models which govern and structure archival processes and systems.
Australia has federal, state and local government jurisdictions, plus government, corporate, NGO and community sectors involved in child welfare and protections services.
References
Activism (2014) Oxford Dictionaries Online. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/activism. Accessed 11 May 2014
Alliance for Forgotten Australians (2011) Forgotten Australians: Supporting survivors of childhood institutional care in Australia. http://www.forgottenaustralians.org.au/PDF/MiniAfaBooklet.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2012
Alvessoon M, Deetz S (2000) A framework for critical research. Doing critical management research. SAGE, London, pp 139–166
Attorney-General’s Department (2013) National apology for forced adoptions. http://www.ag.gov.au/About/ForcedAdoptionsApology/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed 18 May 2014
Australian Human Rights Commission (2014) National inquiry into children in immigration detention 2014: Discussion paper. Australian Human Rights Commission. https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/national-inquiry-children-immigration-detention-2014-discussion-paper. Accessed 25 May 2014
Bastian JA (2003) Owning memory: How a Caribbean community lost its archives and found its history. Libraries Unlimited, Westport
Care Leaver (2011) Find and Connect glossary. http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000210bhtm. Accessed 31 Aug 2014
Caswell M (2010) Khmer Rouge archives: accountability, truth, and memory in Cambodia. Arch Sci 10(1):25–44. doi:10.1007/s10502-010-9114-1
Caswell M (2014) Toward a survivor-centered approach to records documenting human rights abuse: lessons from community archives. Arch Sci 14(3–4):307–322. doi:10.1007/s10502-014-9220-6
Cecez-Kecmanovic D, Kennan MA (2013) The methodological landscape: Information systems and knowledge management. In: Williamson E, Johanson G (eds) Research methods: information, systems and contexts. Tilde University Press, Prahran, pp 113–137
Child Migrants Trust (2014) Child migration history. http://www.childmigrantstrust.com/our-work/child-migration-history. Accessed 17 May 2014
CLAN (2011) Struggling to keep it together a national survey about older care leavers who were in Australia’s orphanages, children’s homes, foster care and other institutions. Care Leavers Australia network. http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/fcdc/inquiries/57th/Child_Abuse_Inquiry/Submissions/CLAN_Appendix_1.pdf. Accessed 9 Oct 2013
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (2009) Final report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. http://www.childabusecommission.ie/publications/index.html. Accessed 11 May 2014
Community Affairs References Committee (2012) Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices. Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2010-13/commcontribformerforcedadoption/report/index. Accessed 9 Oct 2013
Cook T (2001) Archival science and postmodernism: new formulations for old concepts. Arch Sci 1(1):3–24. doi:10.1007/BF02435636
Cook T (2010) Standing on the shoulders of giants: the next generation of Canadian archivists reflections and prospects. Paper presented at the Association of Canadian Archivists Conference 2010: Into the Future, Halifax, Nova Scotia June 9–12 2010. http://archivists.ca/sites/default/files/Attachments/Communications_attachments/cook_closing_plenary.pdf. Accessed 25 May 2014
Cook T (2013) Evidence, memory, identity, and community: four shifting archival paradigms. Arch Sci 13(2-3):95–120
Cook T, Schwartz JM (2002) Archives, records, and power: from (postmodern) theory to (archival) performance. Arch Sci 2(3-4):171–185. doi:10.1007/BF02435620
Crittenden S (2013) The dark records of broken lives. Glob Mail. http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/the-dark-records-of-broken-lives/594/. Accessed 12 Oct 2013
Delanty G (2003) Community, 1st edn. Routledge, London and New York
Downing M, Jones M, Humphreys C, McCarthy G, O’Neill C, Tropea R (2013) An educative intervention: assisting in the self-assessment of archival practice in 12 community service organisations. Arch Manuscr 41(2):116–128. doi:10.1080/015768952013810552
Duff W, Flinn A, Suurtamm KE, Wallace DA (2013) Social justice impact of archives: a preliminary investigation. Arch Sci 13(4):317–348. doi:10.1007/s10502-012-9198-x
Eveleigh A (2012) Welcoming the world: an exploration of participatory archives. Paper presented at the International Council of Archives Congress 2012: Brisbane 21–24 August 2012. http://www.ica2012.com/files/pdf/Full%20papers%20upload/ica12Final00128.pdf. Accessed 7 May 2013
FaHCSIA (2012) Find and Connect services and projects. https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/families-and-children/programs-services/find-and-connect-services-and-projects. Accessed 1 Nov 2014
Flinn A (2010) Independent community archives and community-generated content “Writing, Saving and Sharing our Histories”. Converg Int J Res New Media Tech 16(1):39–51. doi:10.1177/1354856509347707
Flinn A (2011) Archival activism: independent and community-led archives, radical public history and the heritage professions. Int Actions UCLA J Edu Inf Stud 7(2), Article 6
Flinn A, Stevens M, Shepherd E (2009) Whose memories, Whose archives? Independent community archives, autonomy and the mainstream. Arch Sci 9(1-2):71–86. doi:10.1007/s10502-009-9105-2
Fourmile H (1989) Who owns the past?: Aborigines as captives of the archives. Aboriginal Hist 13:1–8
Gilliland A (2014) Acknowledging, respecting, enfranchising, liberating and protecting: a platform for radical archival description. Paper presented at New York University’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute: Radical Archives Conference April 11–12 2014
Gilliland A, McKemmish S (2012) Recordkeeping metadata, the archival multiverse, and societal grand challenges. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2012. Kuching Sarawak 3–7 September 2012. http://dcevents.dublincore.org/index.php/IntConf/dc-2012/paper/view/108. Accessed 27 Sept 2012
Gilliland A, McKemmish S (2013) Archival and recordkeeping research: past, present and future. In: Williamson K, Johanson G (eds) Research methods: information, systems and contexts. Tilde University Press, Prahran, Victoria, Australia, pp 79–103
Gilliland A, McKemmish S (2014) The role of participatory archives in furthering human rights, reconciliation and recovery. Atlanti Rev Mod Arch Theory Pract 24:79–88
Gilliland A, McKemmish S (2015) Rights in records as a platform for participative archiving. In: Cox R, Langmead A, Mattern N (eds) Studies in archival education and research: selected papers from the 2014 AERI conference, Litwin Books, Sacramento
Harris V (2002) The archival sliver: power, memory, and archives in South Africa. Arch Sci 2(1–2):63–86. doi:10.1007/BF02435631
Harris V (2011) Jacques Derrida meets Nelson Mandela: archival ethics at the endgame. Arch Sci 11(1–2):113–124. doi:10.1007/s10502-010-9111-4
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1997) Bringing them home: report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-report-1997. Accessed 9 Oct 2013
Hurley C (2005a) Parallel provenance: (1) What, if anything, is archival description? Arch Manuscr 33(1):110–145
Hurley C (2005b) Parallel provenance: (2) When something is not related to everything else. Arch Manuscr 33(2):52–95
Huvila I (2008) Participatory archive: towards decentralised curation, radical user orientation, and broader contextualisation of records management. Arch Sci 8(1):15–36. doi:10.1007/s10502-008-9071-0
Iacovino L (2010) Rethinking archival, ethical and legal frameworks for records of Indigenous Australian communities: a participant relationship model of rights and responsibilities. Arch Sci 10(4):353–372. doi:10.1007/s10502-010-9120-3
Ketelaar E (2002) Archival temples, archival prisons: modes of power and protection. Arch Sci 2(3–4):221–238. doi:10.1007/BF02435623
Ketelaar E (2005) Sharing: collected memories in communities of records. Arch Manuscr 33(1):44–61
Ketelaar E (2006) Access: the democratic imperative. Arch Manuscr 34(2):62–81
Körmendy L (2007) Changes in archives’ philosophy and functions at the turn of the 20th/21st centuries. Arch Sci 7(2):167–177. doi:10.1007/s10502-007-9052-8
McCarthy GJ, Evans J (2012) Principles for archival information services in the public domain. Arch Manuscr 40(1):54–67. doi:10.1080/015768952012670872
McCarthy GJ, Swain S, O’Neill C (eds) (2012) Archives, identity and survivors of out-of-home care. Arch Manuscr 40(1):1–67
McKemmish S (1994) Are records ever actual? In: McKemmish S, Piggott M (eds) The records continuum: Ian Maclean and Australian archives first fifty years. Ancora Press, Clayton, pp 187–203
McKemmish S (2011) Evidence of me in a digital world. In: Lee CA (ed) I, digital: personal collections in the digital era. Society of American Archivists, Chicago, pp 115–148
McKemmish S, Piggott M (2013) Toward the archival multiverse: challenging the binary opposition of the personal and corporate archive in modern archival theory and practice. Archivaria 76:111–144 Fall 2013
McKemmish S, Reed B, Piggott M (2005) The archives. In: McKemmish S, Piggott M, Reed B, Upward F (eds) Archives: recordkeeping in society. Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga, pp 159–195
McKemmish S, Faulkhead S, Iacovino L, Thorpe K (2010) Australian Indigenous knowledge and the archives: embracing multiple ways of knowing and keeping. Arch Manuscr 38(1):27–50
McKemmish S, Faulkhead S, Russell L (2011a) Distrust in the archive: reconciling records. Arch Sci 11(3-4):211–239. doi:10.1007/s10502-011-9153-2
McKemmish S, Iacovino L, Ketelaar E, Castan M, Russell L (2011b) Resetting relationships: archives and Indigenous human rights in Australia. Arch Manuscr 39(1):107–144
McKemmish S, Iacovino L, Russel L, Castan M (2012) Editors’ introduction to keeping cultures alive: archives and indigenous human rights. Arch Sci 12(2):93–111. doi:10.1007/s10502-012-9170-9
Moser SC (2007) In the long shadows of inaction: the quiet building of a climate protection movement in the United States. Global Environ Polit 7(2):124–144
Moyer B (1987) The Movement Action Plan: a strategic framework describing the eight stages of successful social movements. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/moyermap.html. Accessed 11 May 2014
Moyer B, McAllister J, Finley ML, Soifer S (2001) Doing democracy: the MAP model for organizing social movements. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island
Myers MD, Klein HK (2011) A set of principles for conducting critical research in information systems. MIS Q 35(1):17–36
National Archives of Australia (2014) Forced Adoptions History Project. http://forcedadoptions.naa.gov.au/. Accessed 31 Aug 2014
National Library of Australia (2012) Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants Oral History Project. http://www.nla.gov.au/oral-history/forgotten-australians-and-former-child-migrants-oral-history-project. Accessed 31 Aug 2014
National Museum of Australia (2011) Inside: Life in Children’s Homes and Institutions. http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/inside_life_in_childrens_homes_and_institutions/home. Accessed 31 Aug 2014
Nesmith T (2002) Seeing archives: postmodernism and the changing intellectual place of archives. Am Arch 65:24–41
Office of the Minister for Children And Youth Affairs (2009) Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse 2009 implementation plan. Department of Health and Children, Ireland. http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/implementation_plan_from_ryan_commission_report.pdf. Accessed 13 Oct 2013
O’Neill C (2012) Accessing the records of the Forgotten Australians: learning from the human rights context to improve archival practices and restorative justice. Paper presented at the International Council of Archives Congress 2012: Brisbane 21–24 August 2012. http://ica2012.ica.org/files/pdf/Full%20papers%20upload/ica12Final00354.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2014
O’Neill C, Selakovic V, Tropea R (2012) Access to records for people who were in out-of-home care: moving beyond “third dimension” archival practice. Arch Manuscr 40(1):29–41. doi:10.1080/015768952012668841
Orlikowski WJ, Baroudi JJ (1991) Studying information technology in organizations: research approaches and assumptions. Inf Syst Res 2(1):1–28
Papadaki E (2012) Feminist perspectives on objectification. In: Zalta EN (ed) The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, Winter 2012 edition. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/feminism-objectification/. Accessed 24 May 2014
Pluralizing the Archival Curriculum Group (2011) Educating for the archival multiverse. Am Arch 74:69–101 Spring/Summer 2011
Power S (2004) Introduction. In: Arendt H (ed) The origins of totalitarianism. Random House, New York
Prime Minister of Australia (2008) Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples. http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples. Accessed 17 May 2014
Prime Minister of Australia (2009) Transcript of address at the apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants, Great Hall, Parliament House, 16 Nov 2009. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/110625/20091116-1801/www.pm.gov.au/node/6321.html. Accessed 18 May 2014
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2014a) Inquiries and reports relevant to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/documents/8-1-previous-inquiries-in-tor-new-logo.pdf. Accessed 12 May 2014
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2014b) Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse—Home. http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/. Accessed 20 May 2014
Ryan Report Monitoring Group (2012) Ryan report implementation plan: third progress report. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Ireland. http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/RyanThirdProgressReport.pdf. Accessed 13 Oct 2013
Schwartz JM, Cook T (2002) Archives, records, and power: the making of modern memory. Arch Sci 2(1–2):1–19. doi:10.1007/BF02435628
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs (2001) Lost innocents: righting the record—report on child migration. Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/1999-02/child_migrat/report/index. Accessed 4 April 2013
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs (2004) Forgotten Australians: a report on Australians who experienced institutional or out-of-home care as children. Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/report/index. Accessed 12 Oct 2013
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs (2009) Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians revisited: report on the progress with the implementation of the recommendations of the Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians reports. Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/senate/committee/clac_ctte/recs_lost_innocents_forgotten_aust_rpts/report/report.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2014
Shilton K, Srinivasan R (2007) Participatory appraisal and arrangement for multicultural archival collections. Archivaria 63:87–101 Spring 2007
Sköld J, Foberg E, Hedström J (2012) Conflicting or complementing narratives? Interviewees’ stories compared to their documentary records in the Swedish Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and Neglect in Institutions and Foster Homes. Arch Manuscr 40(1):15–28. doi:10.1080/015768952012668842
Snow DA, Soule SA, Kriesi H (eds) (2003) The Blackwell companion to social movements. Oxford, Blackwell, Oxford
Todorov T (1996) Facing the extreme: moral life in the concentration camps. Metropolitan Books, New York
Trust and Technology Project (2009a) Exposure draft position statement: Human rights, Indigenous communities in Australia and the archives. Monash University. http://infotech.monash.edu/research/centres/cosi/projects/trust/deliverables/human-rights.html. Accessed 24 May 2014
Trust and Technology Project (2009b) Koorie archiving: Trust and Technology—final report. Monash University. http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/research/centres/cosi/projects/trust/final-report/. Accessed 24 May 2014
Trust and Technology Project (2009c) Statement of principles relating to Australian Indigenous knowledge and the archives. Monash University. http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/projects/trust/deliverables/principles.html. Accessed 24 May 2014
UN Commission on Human Rights (2005) Updated set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity. Report No E/CN4/2005/102/Add1. United Nations. http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/impu/principles.html Accessed 24 May 2014
UNESCO (2011) Universal declaration on archives. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002134/213423e.pdf. Accessed 12 Oct 2013
UN General Assembly (2007) Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Report No A/RGS/61/295. United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html. Accessed 24 May 2014
United Nations (1990) Convention on the rights of the child. https://treaties.un.org/pages/viewdetails.aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg_no=iv-11&chapter=4&lang=en. Accessed 25 May 2014
Upward F (1997) Structuring the records continuum part two: structuration theory and recordkeeping. Arch Manuscr 25(1):10–35
Upward F, McKemmish S, Reed B (2011) Archivists and changing social and information spaces: a continuum approach to recordkeeping and archiving in online cultures. Archivaria 72:197–237 Fall 2011
Victorian Auditor General (2014) Residential care services for children. Victorian Auditor-General’s Office. http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports_and_publications/latest_reports/2013-14/20140326-residential-care.aspx. Accessed 24 May 2014
Victorian Koorie Records Taskforce (2006) Wilam Naling … knowing who you are…: Improving access to records of the Stolen Generations, a report to the Victorian Government. Department for Victorian Communities. http://prov.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/WilamNalingReportJune2006.pdf. Accessed 4 April 2013
Victorian Ombudsman (2012) Investigation into the storage and management of ward records by the Department of Human Services. Victorian Ombudsman. http://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/report__investigation_into_the_storage_and_management_of_ward_records_by_dhs_-_mar_2012.pdf. Accessed 2 May 2013
Wakimoto DK, Bruce C, Partridge H (2013) Archivist as activist: lessons from three queer community archives in California. Arch Sci 13(4):293–316. doi:10.1007/s10502-013-9201-1
White KL, Gilliland AJ (2010) Promoting reflexivity and inclusivity in archival education, research, and practice. Libr Q 80(3):231–248
Yin RK (2009) Case study research: design and methods, 4th edn. SAGE, Los Angeles
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the Trust and Technology Project’s community and industry partners: the Public Record Office of Victoria, the Koorie Heritage Trust Inc., the Victorian Koorie Records Taskforce and the Australian Society of Archivists Indigenous Issues Special Interest Group, the Project’s Advisory Group and the eighty-one participants from the Koorie communities of Victoria who agreed to be interviewed as part of the project, along with thirteen archival service providers, managers and mediators. We also gratefully acknowledge the care leavers who were willing to share their stories in the Who Am I? Project and participating organisations: the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, the Victorian Department of Human Services, Child and Family Services Ballarat, Berry Street, Anglicare Victoria, Glastonbury Child and Family Services, Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services, Kildonan Child and Family Services, Mackillop Family Services, Office of the Child Safety Commissioner, Victoria, Orana Family Services, Public Record Office Victoria, St Lukes Anglicare, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency Co-op Ltd, Wesley Mission, Westcare (Salvation Army), CLAN, CREATE Foundation, Connecting Home, Link Up and Open Place.
Ethical standard
All authors declare that they have no undeclared conflicts of interest. The studies discussed in this article were carried out in accordance with the Australian Code of Conduct for Responsible Research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
See Table 1.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Evans, J., McKemmish, S., Daniels, E. et al. Self-determination and archival autonomy: advocating activism. Arch Sci 15, 337–368 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-015-9244-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-015-9244-6