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Prologue

No. 11 (2024): The archives

The archives

Submitted
April 1, 2024
Published
2024-06-28

Abstract

The original meaning of "archive" derives from the Greek "arkheîon," referring to the residence of the archons who had the right to interpret the documents entrusted to them from their position of authority. These were places of power and control that did not guarantee the truth, as Orwell warned. However, Michel Foucault indicated at the onset of postmodernity that archives were no longer confined to a physical space but assumed an abstract condition as transformative devices for statements and discourses. Furthermore, these changes in the order and dynamics of archives have been accentuated by new digital technologies, as Wolfgang Ernst points out, affecting how knowledge is produced and consumed, and consequently reconfiguring its power structures.

So, what should we preserve if we assimilate the archive to a 'repository of meanings' as stated by Eric Ketelaar?

References

  1. Blanco Lage, Manuel (ed.), Archivos de Arquitectura. Documentos para el Debate. Alcalá: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá, 2004.
  2. Derrida, Jacques; Ferrer, Daniel; Contat, Michel; Rabaté, Jean-Michel y Hay, Louis. “Archivo y borrador”. En Palabras de archivo, compilado por Graciela Goldchluk y Monica G. Pené,195-223. Santa Fe: Universidad Nacional del Litoral; CRLA Archivos, 2021.
  3. Ernst, Wolfgang. Digital Memory and the Archive. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
  4. Foucault, Michel. La arqueología del saber. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 2002. Obra original publicada en 1969.
  5. Ketelaar, Eric. “Tacit Narratives: The Meanings of Archives,” Archival Science 1 (2001): 131-141.
  6. Miessen, Markus and Ulrich Obrist, Hans. “Archiving in Formation: A Conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist”. Log, nº 21,(2011): 39-46.
  7. Orwell, George .1984. Madrid: DeBolsillo,2013. Obra original publicada en 1949.

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