[Personal_archives] A turning point?

[RICKBARRY at aol.com]

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
 
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, _"The  Changing 
Workplace and the Nature of  Records"_ 
(http://www.mybestdocs.com/barry-r-aca1995-wkp-rec.htm)  , 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. 
 
Regards,
 
Rick
 
 
 
In a message dated 10/30/2008 12:30:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
mlangford at qc.aibn.com writes:

The  introduction of postmortem photographs and all the immensely useful  
recommendation from the literature have nevertheless made us all a bit  
thoughtful. The week will end before we sort out the ethics of these  
matters - our conversation will be over.

So I want to pick up on  the disciplinary point about sociologists having 
a more developed theory  on the public uses of taboo or potentially 
hurtful material. The social  scientists have led the way, it seems to 
me, toward more self-reflexive  practices. Everything I've read here so 
far suggests that archivists and  art historians are doing their best to 
be both sensitive and reflexive in  their work. How do we communicate 
these ideas to emergent researchers,  whether in the archives or in the 
classroom? I have my strategies, but I  was hoping to hear from you, 
because these ideas need constant  refreshment, or they turn in on 
themselves and cease to be  productive.

So: reflexivity...how's it  going?

Martha
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