Decolonising the Archive: A Caribbean Approach
In this blog Makiya Davis-Bramble explores how her mixed-Caribbean cultural background gave her the insight needed to explore how historical narratives were collected, researched, and catalogued.
In many cultures around the world, family traditions are taught and coveted by community elders. Grandparents and Great-grandparents alike pass down treasured cultural practices to family members both young and old. These inherited recipes, customs, and sayings influence the way we navigate through life, and interestingly even the way we work.
Whilst undertaking a career in the heritage sector, choosing an archival project to pursue has personally come down to two things: Does the project benefit the local community it serves? And will marginalised histories be explored? It was really important for me to help highlight unacknowledged histories that remained hidden within objects and documents. However, in order to do this, it was essential to view working practice through a decolonial lens. This meant that a working framework had to be created to re-contextualise, re-interpret, and re-imagine items existing in the archive. Processes were also included, such as taking a deeper look at why certain items have historically been accessioned over others, and what tools could be implemented to make archives more inclusive and accessible to use in the future.
Now this is where my cultural heritage came in.
I come from a mixed-Caribbean background and found that many of the sayings and principles shared by my Grandmothers could be used to help reshape the way archives unpack their collections. Decolonising the archive with Eastern Caribbean wisdom felt like a natural way to approach creating equality and representation in heritage spaces.
Below I share 4 Caribbean sayings I’ve grown up with, the meanings behind them, and how they allowed me to approach archiving from a different perspective.
Wash in the first water
Do not let a present opportunity pass you by.
When you first spot things that need to be amended or altered in the archive, such as cataloguing and item labelling, this can sometimes be overwhelming. With many archive services running with strict budgets these tasks present a challenge of prioritisation among other strands of work. Instead of making a mental note to address things later on, it is often more helpful to assess the timescale of any issue you find. Oftentimes, it is easier to slot in a piece of work during a quieter time in the day than it is to officially find a block of time to tackle it.
Taking hold of opportunities also rings true for decolonising projects in general. If your archive wishes to create a public facing project such as an online exhibition, object handling session, or simply sharing stories from the archive, these workstreams can be looked at as an opportunity to explore inclusive histories and connect with diverse community groups.
Laugh and cry lives in the same house
The same thing can bring opposite emotions and meanings.
Within the archive, object interpretation is a key tool to demystify the nature of items and the histories they hold. When looking to re-interpret a collection piece it is important to recognise the dual meanings and perspectives that can be present. A booklet on town planning doesn’t just represent information on how a town was structured but also how social changes were presented and marketed to the local community. A colonial trading log doesn’t just represent the interests of British trading companies, it also highlights the goods most meaningful to the British public and sheds light on the colonies the resources originated from.
Acknowledging that an infinite number of stories can be told from one object is one of the first steps in decolonising narratives and the constructions of Britain’s social and cultural reality today.
Dirty water cools hot iron
All things have a purpose.
As Archivists, we understand that every item is purposeful and has a usefulness to exploring a particular part of history. This usefulness can change over time and identifying new uses for objects can help to bring more nuanced narratives to the forefront. For example, a 50-year-old University student newsletter is a clear source of looking at academic practice, university structure in the UK, and the experiences of students. It therefore may also be identified as a source of black histories and women’s histories in Britain at the time, if it shares photographs and holds stories of students and alumni from these backgrounds.
Challenging what I call your ‘collection perception’ and thinking outside of the box can help to assist with illuminating different community experiences and helps to develop new forms of interaction and engagement concerning archive services as a whole.
Who don’t hear must feel
Seek and heed advice as your actions have consequences.
Receiving and listening to constructive feedback is a great way to begin to address the need for inclusivity and representation within the archive. Whilst some initiatives have to go through senior approval and may take a while to get off the ground it is important to reassure the local community that work will be undertaken. Taking feedback on board ensures that the archive meets the needs of its users, helps archives re-focus their lines of work, and empowers the local community to share their stories through facilitating wider conversations.
This saying also applies to learning within the archive space. There are many sources of information on anti-racist practice, archive decolonisation, and diversity and inclusion available online in the GLAM sector. To learn more about how to implement these tools in your archive you can attend lectures, talks, and even create your own book clubs to discover new ways of working. Redeveloping your learning presents a great opportunity to foster new engagements and understand different viewpoints.
Archival practice is not just historical, its also cultural and personal. My cultural background poured into my work and gave me the insight needed to explore how historical narratives were collected, researched, and catalogued. Decolonising ultimately changes the way we share, collect, and present the stories of communities, organisations, and individuals. Continuing to build on this knowledge and draw on different experiences is the main step towards enhancing how the archive tells stories and reflects the realities of the people represented within its collections.