geert-jan van bussel the theoretical framework for the 'archive-as-is'
an organization oriented view on archives - part i
ethnicity, identity, gender, sexual orientation, and transnational approaches of
migration (Kaplan, 2000; Cvetkovich, 2003; Wurl, 2005; Dunbar, 2006; Rawson,
2009; Campt, 2012; White, 2017). It is about the epistemological and symbolic role
of 'the archive' in a trans-disciplinary, multicultural, pluralistic, and increasingly
interconnected and globalised world (Dunbar, 2006; Kaplan, 2000; Wurl, 2005).
The organizations that generated the archives disappeared from consideration.
2.4. Rethinking the archive
Archival scholars, as Upward (1996, 1997), Brothman (1999, 2001), Cook
(1997, 2001), Ketelaar (1999, 2000a, 2017), Nesmith (1999, 2002), and, recently,
Wood et al (2014) are engaged in re-thinking and debating archival theory in the
wake of the 'archival turn', using postmodern (especially poststructuralist),
structurationist, and postcustodial theories4 and the concept of (Derridean)
archiviology, 'une science générale de l'archive, de tout ce qui peut arriver a
l'économie de la mémoire et a ses supports, traces, documents (Derrida, 1995a:
56; 'a general science of -+the archive, of everything that can happen to the economy
of memory and to its substrates, traces, documents Derrida, 1995b, p. 34).
These archival scholars, in their enthusiasm of this 'archival turn', are using the
term 'archive' in poststructuralist sense, and are moving away from its traditional
meaning(s), practices, and environments. They view 'the archive' as manifesting
power, memory and evidence paradigms of past times and places (Stoler, 2002).
In the 1980s and 1990s, there was an intensive theoretical discourse about [1]
the adoption of archival principles as 'respect des fonds' and 'provenance' (Bearman
and Lytle, 1985; Carucci, 1992); and [2] the re-examinations of appraisal theory,
instigated by Booms' (1987) evaluation of appraisal. The discourse revolved
especially around how acquisition of archives by heritage institutions could
represent society or social justice. Renewed attention to macro-appraisal theories
(for the first time expressed by Hermann Meinert (1939)) and development of
documentation strategies are expressions of that discourse. Acquisition was (and is)
subject of theoretical (and practical!) scrutiny as it was challenged with rising
amounts of information and a proliferation of information objects and records
created by new technologies (Samuels, 1991, 1992; Duranti, 1994; Menne-Haritz,
1994; Brown, 1995; Cook, 2005). This discourse is still going strong: Shilton and
Srinivasan (2007) and Huvila (2008), for instance, apply participatory design ideas
to appraisal, and define the concept of participatory appraisal. Van Bussel (2012c)
embedded appraisal within information relevancy theories that emphasize the
change in information relevance over time.
3. The archival theoretical frameworks
3.1. The postmodern and structurationist meta-view of the Records Continuum
In the mid-1990s, Frank Upward (1996, 1997) defined his records continuum
theory and model, with additional models following several years later (Upward,
2000). The continuum theory is influenced by Australian postcustodial practices,
postmodernist thinking, and the social theory of structuration (McKemmish, 2001,
p. 346-347; McKemmish, 2017, p. 137). Upward was especially triggered by Giddens'
view that societies are shaped by individuals and their structures (or traces of
memory, as Giddens (1984, p. 378) calls them). Unlike the linear theory of
information, thinking along the continuum emphasizes the continuous change in
the context of information 'in spacetime' (Upward, 2000, p. 117-119). According to
Xiaomi (2003), the theory is trying to integrate records and archives management,
which is correct and its original intention as is clearly defined in Upward (1996).
Upward (2000, p. 117) claims that his theory (and its postmodern and
structurationist motivation) represents 'a fullly-fledged paradigm shift in which a
worldview is being replaced', for it ends the 'life cycle worldview' that is based on
'the separation of space and time'. This claim that the theory is a paradigm shift has
been supported (Thomassen, 1999; Cook, 1997, 2000a, 2001; McKemmish, 2001),
but it has been correctly put into perspective by Luciana Duranti (2001) and Charles
Jeurgens (2014). It is, at least, an exaggeration, for thinking in a semiotic spacetime
continuum was introduced by the pragmatic philosopher Charles Peirce in the late
nineteenth century (Morrissey, 2002; see also Upward (2017), without recognizing
the contradiction with his earlier statement).5
archives in liquid times
3.1.1. The Records Continuum theory and its long-term contribution
26
4 The structuration theory (or concept) of Anthony Giddens (especially in: The constitution of society: Outline
of the theory of structuration, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1984) is developed as a social theory that tries to
comprehend human social behaviour by studying the interfaces between actors (agencies) and structures.
Giddens believes that actors operate within contexts of rules resulting from social structures. These
structures do not have inherent stability outside the human action that constructed them. Agents modify
social structures by acting outside their constraints. Giddens proposes three kinds of structure in a social
system: [1] signification, a codification of meaning in language and discourse; [2] legitimation, normative
perspectives implemented as societal norms and values; and [3] domination, the ways power is applied in the
control of resources. Those structures are met by three kinds of interaction: [1] the communication of
meaning; [2] morality or sanction; and [3] power relations. Structures and interactions 'communicate' with
each other using a matching set of three modalities: [1] interpretive schemes; [2] norms; and [3] facilities.
The object of the structuration theory are the conditions which govern the continuity and/or dissolution
of structures and types of structures. In 1981 F. Gerald Ham ('Archival Strategies for the Postcustodial Era',
The American Archivist, Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 207-216) presented postcustodialism, a set of archival strategies
that featured a decentralized computer environment that realized easy and centralized access to complex
and decentralized archives. Ham did not argue that archivists should stop managing custodial holdings, but
that they needed strategies to navigate the complex realities of the twentieth century. David Bearman
('An indefensible bastion: Archives as a repository in the electronic age', Technical report, Archives and
Museum Informatics, Vol 13 (1991), pp. 14-24) went into extremes when arguing that archivists should avoid
taking any custody at all of electronic records. In a networked world, 'it doesn't matter much where records
or users are', as long as archivists have intellectual control. This provocative statement was endorsed in
Australia (F. Upward and S. McKemmish, 'Somewhere Beyond Custody: literature review', Archives and
Manuscripts, Vol. 22 (1994), No. 1, 136-149), but was abandoned several years later by the National Archives
of Australia. In the establishment of a digital preservation project, it was argued than that digital records
ideally should be tranferred to archival repositories for custody. In 2017, physical custody of archives is the
stated preference of most archival programs as a result of the acceptance of 'trusted digital repositories'. A.
Cunningham, 'Postcustodialism', L. Duranti and P.C. Franks, Encyclopedia of Archival Science, Lanham,
Rowman Littlefield, 2015, pp. 274-278.
5 Apart from Peirce's pragmatic thinking of a semiotic spacetime continuum, the concept of a records
continuum can be dated to the 1950s when Ian Maclean, the Australian national archivist, stated that
archival science should be directed toward studying the characteristics of records, record keeping systems,
and classification processes. He promoted a view of a management continuum for records. See: F. Upward,
'In Search of the Continuum: Ian Maclean's 'Australian Experience' Essays on Recordkeeping',
S. McKemmish and M. Piggott, The Records Continuum: Ian MacLean and Australian Archives: first fifty years,
Clayton (Vict.), Ancora Press, 1994, pp. 110-130. In 198 5, Canadian archivist Jay Atherton made the word
'continuum' explicit for a way of integrated management of all interrelated stages of records, pointing out
the information management weaknesses of the lifecycle model. This model is based on the premise that
the 'life' of a record can be divided into two distinct, separate stages of responsibility: that of records
management (with creation, classification, maintenance and use, and disposition of records) and that of
archives management (with acquisition, description, preservation, and reference and use of archival
records). J. Atherton, 'From life cycle to continuum: Some thoughts on the records management-archives
relationship', Archivaria, Vol. 21 (198 5), Winter, pp. 43-51. Upward's theory is the culmination of thinking
about a records continuum, philosophically enriched by postmodernisms and Giddens' structuration
theory.
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