Using archives, developing identities:
community histories and social memories
Dr Andrew Flinn, School of Library, Archives and
Information Studies
ARMReN Research Workshop: Access and impact
13 September 2007, Liverpool Foresight Centre
Using archives, developing identities: some
questions
• What are collective and community identities and why are
they important?
• What is the contribution of heritage and in particular
archives to the construction and articulation of collective
identity?
• Do we need to consider more deeply secondary & indirect
access, and if so how to measure the impact of that
access?
Cultural identities & shared heritage
Part of our problem is that we do not know our histories;
part of your problem is that you do not know our histories.
So much of the hostility we face is based on ignorance and
we must challenge this.
(Stephen Small, The Politics of British Black History
(1991))
Personally, I see no reason why, as a white woman, the
history of black people in this country is any less part of my
history than castles and medieval churches…It is
something we all share, just by being here.
(Deborah Lamb, Director of Policy and Communications,
English Heritage (2007))
Democratising heritage – decolonising the mind
‘The Heritage inevitably reflects the governing
assumptions of its time and context…by the power and
authority of those who have colonised the past, whose
versions of history matter…
This is therefore an appropriate moment to ask then, who
is the Heritage for? In the British case the answer is clear.
It is intended for those who ‘belong’ – a society which is
imagined as, in broad terms, culturally homogeneous and
unified. It is long past time to radically question this
foundational assumption.’
Stuart Hall (‘Whose Heritage’, 1999)
Cultural disenfranchisement
‘When an individual’s or a community’s heritage is denied
adequate recognition within a particular milieu, or is
overshadowed by dominant narratives or is simply ignored,
the outcome can be debilitating, leading to disaffection and
disillusionment, a sense of disenfranchisement and
contributing to socio-economic decline’
(Mayor’s Commission on African and Asian Heritage,
Delivering shared heritage, 2005: 10)
Community identity, collective memories &
history
“Communities…have a history – in an important sense are
constituted by their past – and for this reason we can
speak of a real community as a ‘community of memory’,
one that does not forget its past. In order not to forget that
past, a community is involved in retelling its story, its
constitutive narrative” (Olick & Robbins, 1998)
‘At the societal level, the way we understand ourselves as
communities and nations is through an understanding of
broader public stories about where we collectively come
from. It is for this reason that the teaching of history and
the commemoration of historical events play such a central
role in arguments about identity’ (IPPR, The New Identity
Politics, 2007)
Counter-memories & community archives.
Questioning the authority of the archives
‘a decline in the acceptance of the traditional authorities in
authenticating the interpretative and analytic frameworks
which classify, place, compare and evaluate culture; and
the concomitant rise in the demand to re-appropriate
control over the “writing of one’s own story” as part of a
wider process of cultural liberation – as Frantz Fanon and
Amilcar Cabral once put it “the decolonisation of the mind”’
(Stuart Hall, ‘Whose Heritage…’ 2005: 28)
Impact of archives on cultural identity
“intercultural understanding seems key, though it is contested as
to whether museums, libraries and archives merely act to
‘legitimise’ particular (dominant) cultures/heritages, or that they
also can help to express ‘hidden histories’”
(BOP, New Directions in Social Policy, 2005)
‘The challenge for archives …is to demonstrate their relevance
to society and the public. I believe archives are as relevant
today as they have ever been. In part because they teach us
about our history and our identity…Individuals and communities
across the country need to understand their multiple identities,
to combat ignorance and prejudice, and to foster tolerance and
understanding.’
(David Lammy MP, Archives Awareness Conference 2007)