Refiguring the Archive

368 Pages·2002·17.79 MB·English

by  Carolyn Hamilton

REFIGURING
the ARCHIVE
REFIGURING
the ARCHIVE
Edited by
Carolyn Hamilton, Veme Harris, Jane Taylor,
Michele Pickover, Graeme Reici & Razia Saleh
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for chis book is
available from the Library of Congress
First published 2002
ISBN 978-94-010-3926-0 ISBN 978-94-010-0570-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-010-0570-8
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002
AU rights reserved
No part of chis work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, wichout written
permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied
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system, for exclsuive use by che purchaser of che work
Inventory
Page Tide Author
7 Inrroducrion Carolyn Hamilton,VerneHarris
and GraerneReid
19 The PowerofrheArchiveand its LimitsI Achille Mbernbe
20 The Archivesand the Political Imaginary Bhekizizwe Peterson
38 ArchiveFeverinSouth Africa Jacques Derrida
39 Psychoanalysisand the Archive: Derrida'sArchiveFever SusanvanZyl
61 AShaftofDarkness:Derridain theArchive VerneHarris
83 Colonial Archivesand the Arts ofGovernance: Ann LauraStoler
On theContentin the Form
103 'Picturing the Past' in Namibia:The VisualArchive PatriciaHayes,JeremySilvester
and itsEnergies and Wolfram Hartmann
135 The ArchivalSliver:APerspective on the Construction VerneHarris
ofSocialMemory in Archivesand the Transition
from Apartheid to Democracy
161 The Archive, PublicHistoryand the Essential Truth: Brent Harris
The TRC Reading thePast
179 The HumanGenome asArchive: HimlaSoodyall,Bhatti Morar
SomeIllustrationsfrom theSouth andTreforJenkins
193 'TheHistoryofthe Past isthe Trust ofthe Present': Graerne Reid
Preservation andExcavation inthe GayandLesbian
ArchivesofSouth Africa
209 'Living byFluidity':OralHistories, Material Custodies Carolyn Hamilton
and the Politics ofArchiving
229 Orality and LiteracyinanElectronic Era PhaswaneMpe
243 Holdings:Refiguring the Archive Jane Taylor
283 Literatureand the Archive:The Biography ofTexts SarahNuttall
301 Keeping theSelf:TheNovelistas(Self-)Archivist Ronald Suresh Roberts
323 Electronic Record-keeping,SocialMemory and Democracy David Bearman
333 BlackbirdsandBlackButterflies Martin Hall
362 BiographicalNotes
366 Index
368 Acknowledgements
Inventory
(1) Afindingaidlistinganddescribingin varyingdegreesof
detailthecontentsofoneormorerecord/archivegroups,fonds,
classesorseries,usuallyincludingabriefhistoryoftheorgani
sationandfunctions oftheoriginatingagencylies,institutions
ororganisationsand,ifappropriate, indexes.In USusage,the
normalunitofentryistheseries.Accordingtothedegreeof
descriptivedetail,all inventory(1)may bereferredtoasan
analyticalinventory(calendar),descriptiveinventory orlist,
preliminaryinventory,repertoryorsummaryinventory.
(2) A document containingalist ofthings,e.g.furniture
andfittings, often,asin thecaseofthepropertyofdeceased
persons,withan indicationofvalue.
PeterWalne, ed.,DictionaryofArchivalTerminology,leA
HandbooksSeries vol. 7(Munich,New York, London, Paris:
K. G. Saur, 1988).
Prefacesalongwithforewords, introductions,preludes,prelim
inaries, preambles, prologues,andprolegomena,havealways
beenwritten, it seems,in viewoftheirOtIJnself-effacement.
Uponreachingtheendofthepre- (which presents andpre
cedes,orratherforestalls, thepresentativeproduction,and,in
ordertoputbeforethereader'seyeswhatisnotyet visible, is
obligedtospeak,predict, andpredicate), the routewhich has
beencoveredmustcancelitselfout. Butthis subtractionleaves
amarkoferasure,aremainderwhich isaddedtothesubse
quenttextandwhich cannot becompletelysummedup within
it. Suchan operation thus appearscontradictory,andthesame
istrue oftheinterestonetakes in it.
ExtractfromJacques Derrida,Dissemination(Chicago:University
ofChicago Press, 1961),p. 9.
Introduction
Carolyn Hamilton, VerneHarris & Graeme Reid
(RE)FIGURE
We begin our ending - forthis isour editorial summation- with a
lexicalinterlude.The word 'figure'enfoldsmultiple meanings- asa
verb:toappear,bementioned, represent,beasymbolof,imagine,pat
tern, calculare,understand,determine,consider- all remultiplied by
theword'shospitalitytoprefixes.Almost ascomplex- to assertwhat
this bookattempts todemonstrate- istheword 'archive'(the noun),
which plays(isplayed)asidea,asinstitution,accumulation ofphysi
calor virtual objects, profession, process,service. Conjoining these
words'figure'and 'archive'istoopenupacornucopiaofmeaning.
THE PROJECT
The archive- allarchive- everyarchive- isfigured.Acceptanceof
thisinSouthAfricahasshapedfundamentally theargument- andthe
processesbuilt upon it - that the country's archivesrequire transfor
mation,orrefiguring.Thefiguring byourapartheid andlongerpasts
must bechallenged, andspacesmust beopenedupinthearchivesby
atransforming society.Undoubtedly RefiguringtheArchive, the book,
canbepositioned within this imperative. However,it isourhopethat
itwillinvite- anddeserve- other positionings.Forthearchiveisalso
alwaysalreadybeing refigured:the technologiesofcreation,preserva
tion and use, for instance,are changing all the time; physically the
archiveisbeingaddedtoandsubtractedfrom,andisindynamicrela
tion with its physicalenvironment;organisational dynamics areever
shifting;and thearchiveisporous tosocietalprocessesanddiscourses
- although at certain junctures, like theoneSourhAfricafinds itself
in now,formal conduits need to beput inplace.Sothat beyondany
call for refiguring, or intention to refigure, Refiguring theArchive
acknowledgesand seekstoengagethe(re)figuring that ishappening,
inSouthAfricaparticularly, andwhereverthere isarchive.
The bookwasconceptualisedasanextensionofaprojectwith the
same title hosted in 1998 by the University of the Witwatersrand's
GraduateSchoolfortheHumanitiesandSocialSciencesinconjunction
7
with fourarchivalinstitutions:theNational Archives,theUniversity's
HistoricalPapers,theGayandLesbianArchivesandtheSouthAfrican
History Archive. Its centrepiece was a series of thirteen seminars,
whichattracted twenty-two speakers,nineofthem fromoutsideSouth
Africa(fourfromtheUnited States,threefromotherAfricancountries
and two from Europe). The speakers and seminar discussants were
drawnfromawiderangeofacademicdisciplinesandprofessions.
Amedleyofinterrelatedeventswereconstellaredaround thesem
inarseries.Theproject launch wascelebrated with the simultaneous
opening ofHoldings:RefiguringtheArchive,an exhibition, curated by
Jane Taylor, of work by contemporary South African artists who
exploretheactivities ofdocumentationasprocessesofinterpretation.
Eachofthe participating institutionsofferedaworkshoplinking the
intellectual explorations of the seminar series to aparticular areaof
archivalpractice.Mostoftheworkshoppresenters wereSouthAfrican
practitioners or academics, but there was representation from
Botswana,Zimbabwe and the United States.TheMoving into Dance
Company performed Tranceformations, choreographed in 1991 by
SylviaGlasserandinspired bySanrockartandtrancedancing.Before
the performance Glasser spoke about the conceptualisation of the
dance,its useofarchiveand itsconstitutionasarchive.The Gayand
LesbianArchivesofferedafreestageperformanceofthe musicalAfter
Nines!basedoninterviewsaboutgayandlesbiantownshiplife,aswell
asaslideshowonthe LesbianHerstory Archive(New York)present
ed byMaxineWolfe.The National Archiveshosted aguided tour of
the National ArchivesRepository in Pretoria.And the filmsDoodkry
isMin(directorJamie Uys)and DieSkerpioen onderdieKlip:Afrikaans
vanKolonialismetotDemokrasie(directorZackieAchrnar)werescreened
at theGraduateSchoolforthe HumanitiesandSocialSciences.' Uys'
film is a classicpropaganda piece on Afrikaner nationalism which
Achmat self-consciouslyechoes in both style and composition and
whichdraws radicallydifferent conclusionsfrom his rereading ofthe
archive of the Afrikaans language, demonstrating its heterogeneous
1 Theliteraltranslationoftheformertitleis origins.Theeventsconstitutedakaleidoscopeofspaces,forms,media
'Todieisnothing'. :o.stoughastheycome'is
andvoices,designedtostretch asfaraspossiblebothaninterrogation
closertotheintendedmeaning. Asan
expressioninAfrikaans,thetitleisusedwith andaprocessof(re)figuring.
referencetosomething/someonethatcannot The collaboration of the four participating institutions was
bekilled,butalso,morefiguratively,to
sornetning/sorneonethatisextremely designed to bring into a single frame of reference the concerns of
tenaciousandcannotbesubduedor archivalpractitioners,historical researcherswhoworkwith aparticu
contained. Thelattertitlecanbetranslatedas
larconceptofarchiveandwhousearchives,aswellaspublicandcom
'Thescorpionunderthestone:Afrikaansfrom
colonialismtodemocracy'. munity interests around archives.It was,further, anattempt to look
8 CAROLYNHAMILTON,VERNEHARRIS&GRAEMEREID
beyond the ideaofarchivesasphysicalrecords,soastoengage theidea
ofthe taken-for-granted, often implicit, 'archive' that is the founda
tion ofthe productionofknowledge in the present ,the basisforthe
identitiesofthe presentand forthe possible imaginingsofcommun
ity in the future. Toinvestigatethis ideaofarchive istobringto bear
on 'archive' an interrogation similar to that which concepts like
'canon' or 'orienralisrn' have undergone. Attempts to refigure the
archive chime with other postcolonial interventions such as the
SubalternStudiesproject, and more specifically the 1999publication
Africana:TheEncyclopediaoftheAfricanandAfricanAmericanExperience,
edited byKwame AnthonyAppiahand HenryLouisGates,"The dif
ference lies in the particular claims of the archive to constitute the
record, toprovideevidence and to actassource.'
An inquiry around archivets) alsodemands an attempt to under
standthe conditionsand circumstancesofpreservationofmaterialas,
and the exclusion ofmaterialfrom, the record,aswellasattention to
therelationsofpowerunderpinningsuchinclusionsandexclusions. In
the effort to open the discussion around the refiguring ofthe archive
wewere mindful ofMichel Foucault's engagement with archive: his
viewthatarchive isnotsimplyinstitution,butratherthe lawofwhat
can be said, the system ofstatements, or rules of practice, that give
shapetowhatcanandcannot besaid."Inourproject,Foucault'sinflu
encewasstrongestinthe proposition- articulatedneatly inthis book
byStoler - that archives are often both documents ofexclusion and
monuments toparticularconfigurationsofpower.
Historiansand otherscholarsareincreasinglyconcerned tounder
stand how knowledgeisproducedand, morespecifically,how knowl
edge ofthe past isproduced.Wherepreviouslyhistorians'mined'the
archivesfor'nuggetsoffact' inamannerconsciousofproblemsofbias
in the record, today scholars pay greater attention to the particular
processesbywhich the recordwasproducedand subsequentlyshaped,
both before its entry into the archive, and increasinglyaspartofthe
archival record.Thisapproachdrawsattentiontothewayinwhich the 2 BasicBooks,NewYork.
recordisalteredovertime,aswellastothegapsandomissionsin,and 3 TherecentlypublishedHetvettiGuideto
excisions from, the record. In South Africa historians have been cau African-AmericanHistory(Cambridge:Harvard
UniversityPress,2001). editedbyL.Utwack
tious about relying exclusively on public and more specifically gov
andD.ClarkHine,isoneofthefew
ernment records,becauseoftheir colonial and later apartheid biases. publicationsinthisareawhichlooksbeyond
That the record is biased is widely recognised by researchers, but a alternativehistoriestoexaminethesourceson
whichtheyarebased.
great deal of work remains to develop our understanding of the cir
4 SeeArchaeologyofKnowledgeand
cumstancesofthecreationofthearchival recordingeneral,andofspe
DiscourseonLanguage(NewYork:Pantheon,
cificcollectionsinparticular. 19721,pp.79-134.
INTRODUCTION 9
In aneffortto overcomesomeofthe biasesin the officialrecord,
researchers have undertaken extensive oral interviewing amongst
those whosevoicesfind scant placein government files.Often these
interviewsremain inthe handsofthe researcher,andalltoorarelyare
they placed in public repositories.The circumstances ofthe produc
tionofspecificoralarchivesrequirecloseattention,subjectastheyare
tomanyofthesameprocessesofmodification, selectionandexclusion
as the documentary record. (Important differences mark off oral
records from written ones:some ofthesehave been identified, even
rarefied.)Inother respectsthe fullpossibilitiesand limitationsofthe
oralrecordremain thesubject ofinvestigation. The project suggested
anapproach toarchivesthat iswaryoftheclaim that oneoranother
correctiveinterventioncan'fill the gaps'inanarchive.The veryidea
of a discernible 'gap' was problematised, with the archive being
stressedassliverrather than asincomplete whole.
Theoral recordisnot theonlyalternativetopublic documentary
archives. Literature, landscape, dance, art and a host ofother forms
offerarchivalpossibilitiescapableofreleasingdifferent kindsofinfor
mation about the past, shaped bydifferent record-keeping processes.
Inshort, manyestablished ideasabout the nature and locationofthe
archiveareunder challenge.
The project further created an opportunity for the National
Archivestoparticipate inapartnershipwhich promised toopen that
institution to transformational energies and to provide a forum in
whichit couldreachout tonewconstituencies.The legalmandate of
theNational Archivesdefinespowerfulimperatives toworkco-opera
tively and to find waysofextending servicesto all South Africans.
Givenastill-resilientapartheid legacy,theinstitutionfacesnumerous
systemicbarriersinseekingtofulfilthismandate. Participationinthe
project bythestaffofthe National Archivesofferedawayforwardto
that institution. The project alsoprovided a unique opportunity to
inject ideas, influences, perspectives and values into South African
archivaldiscoursewhich until then hadfound nocurrency.The post
apartheid transformation ofSouth Africanarchives failed to trouble
the positivist assumptions oftheapartheid era.Intheseries,then, for
thefirst time, formalspacewasbeingcreatedforapost-positivist cri
tique ofthe archivein South Africa,and thereforeforthe emergence
ofatruly radicalarchivaldiscourse.Theorganiserswerekeenlyaware
of the influence of deconstruction, in particular the writings of
Jacques Derrida, on the proponents of a posrcusrodial approach to
archivesinotherpartsoftheworld.And,ashasbeensuggestedabove,
10 CAROLYNHAMILTON,VERNEHARRIS&GRAEMEREID