(Download) "Indigenous Knowledge and Archives: Accessing Hidden History and Understandings." by Australian Academic & Research Libraries " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Indigenous Knowledge and Archives: Accessing Hidden History and Understandings.
- Author : Australian Academic & Research Libraries
- Release Date : January 01, 2005
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 211 KB
Description
Over the past decade, I have been involved with numerous archival projects. All of these have had as their primary aim the uncovering of aspects of Indigenous history or culture. In each case, I had assumed that the archival knowledge I would uncover was not Indigenous per se but rather was western or colonial knowledge about Indigenous people and their cultures. This material was, for the most part, I had understood, the results of the surveillance of Indigenous people and their cultures. In short, these were archival texts within which Indigenous people were the object (and subject) of the gaze of colonial authorities and 'experts,' and from which Indigenous knowledge, perspectives and voice were excluded. In this chapter, I interrogate this assumption and consider some of the issues that have arisen in using archives for the creation of Indigenous (or hidden) histories. I begin by establishing how I conceptualise Indigenous knowledge for the purposes of my argument. This is followed by an analysis of two case studies, one a project that was both familial and personal and the other an exploration of ethnographical details related to Indigenous people's understandings of weather and climate. I focus on some of the challenges each has presented and discuss how these have led me to develop a set of ideals which would enable archives and libraries to allow additions to the Indigenous records (and knowledge) housed in their collections. In the last part of the chapter, I highlight and discuss an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project I am involved with. My hope is that some of my concerns and the issues I broach below will be dealt with in this project which we entitled Trust and Technology. (1)