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<DIV>Thanks for your post, Martha. Your use of the term "reflexive" caused me to
look the word up, because it came to me in a "reflex" or knee-jerk sense,
which I don't think you meant, as distinct from reflective, which I'd like
to think characterized archivists' reaction to potentially, socially loaded
collections. Alas, I found that the terms are synonymous, at least till you get
to the last definition of reflexive offered by Webster: "characterized by
habitual and unthinking behavior". YIKES! I know you didn't mean that one!
But wait! On further reflection, I was prom</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I do have one substantive reaction to your post after some.....reflection.
It is that it has been my observation for the past couple of decades that, with
some exceptions, archivists tend to communicate with one another and not much
outside of their profession in conferences, journals, etc. It is a theme that
I got into in my 1995 presentation to the ACA in Regina, <A
title=http://www.mybestdocs.com/barry-r-aca1995-wkp-rec.htm
href="http://www.mybestdocs.com/barry-r-aca1995-wkp-rec.htm"><STRONG>"The
Changing Workplace and the Nature of
Records"</STRONG></A><STRONG> ,</STRONG> and subsequent workshops. The
particular issue relating to social/cultural considerations in personal
photo records is one that illustrates opportunities for dialogs with other
professional groups about common areas of concern, in this case including
anthropologists and social scientists in discussion lists like this one --
opened up according to the topic to other professionals even temporarily
-- and in other forms, e.g., conferences, journals,
university program guest lecturers. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rick</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 10/30/2008 12:30:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
mlangford@qc.aibn.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>The
introduction of postmortem photographs and all the immensely useful
<BR>recommendation from the literature have nevertheless made us all a bit
<BR>thoughtful. The week will end before we sort out the ethics of these
<BR>matters - our conversation will be over.<BR><BR>So I want to pick up on
the disciplinary point about sociologists having <BR>a more developed theory
on the public uses of taboo or potentially <BR>hurtful material. The social
scientists have led the way, it seems to <BR>me, toward more self-reflexive
practices. Everything I've read here so <BR>far suggests that archivists and
art historians are doing their best to <BR>be both sensitive and reflexive in
their work. How do we communicate <BR>these ideas to emergent researchers,
whether in the archives or in the <BR>classroom? I have my strategies, but I
was hoping to hear from you, <BR>because these ideas need constant
refreshment, or they turn in on <BR>themselves and cease to be
productive.<BR><BR>So: reflexivity...how's it
going?<BR><BR>Martha<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_archives
mailing
list<BR>Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu<BR>http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></FONT><BR><BR><BR>
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