Most historians venture into the archive at some point in their careers, and to many historians this is an exciting and enjoyable task - a highlight. But the archive can also be a confusing and bewildering place. When studying oppressed or marginalized groups, the sources we encounter in the archive are often written by colonial administrators and military officials who constructed those systems of oppression. That is if we can find records on them at all. So how do we find the voices of historically oppressed peoples within the archive and serve them well in our research?

In this episode, Dr Rachel Gillett and Dr Frank Gerits speak with Dr Robin Mitchell and Stevie Nolten to explore how the archive can be a violent place, to discuss the role of white privilege in archival exploration, and to examine what “making the archive accessible” actually means. Robin Mitchell and Stevie Nolten reflect on how we might redress and repair harmful colonial record-keeping and archiving practices - and perhaps transform them...

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

• Is the archive a site of historic truth or a site that hides truths?

• What ethical dilemmas arise in the provenance of many modern colonial archives?

• To what extent has the archive shaped our view, in the Anglo-European context, of how enslaved people and other victims of empire lived their lives?

• What voices are included and excluded from supposedly “national” archives and how does this affect a nation’s sense of self?

Check out Robin’s book ‘Venus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France’ https://ugapress.org/book/9780820354323/venus-noire/ and her twitter https://twitter.com/parisnoire

Check out Stevie’s work with the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision here https://www.openarchief.com

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• ‘Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive by Marisa J. Fuentes https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15502.html

• ‘Beyond the White Men’ by Leendert van der Valk ft Stevie Nolten, Article in De Groene Amsterdammer https://www.groene.nl/artikel/voorbij-de-witte-mannen,

• https://www.theblackarchives.nl/ - A unique historical archive for inspiring conversations, activities and literature from Black and other perspectives that are often overlooked elsewhere

ABOUT

Brought to you by the UGlobe Decolonisation Group

Hosted by Rachel Gillett and Frank Gerits

Sound by Malina Yallanki and Edan Simpson

Music by CarlosCarty (CC-BY-3.0)

Production assistance from Malina Yallanki and Edan Simpson

Special thanks to our guests Dr Robin Mitchell and Stevie Nolten