ABOUT
Throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century, many scholars have shed light on the puzzling concept of the ‘Archive’, expanding its horizons from a side-lined feature of historiography to a deeply philosophical and political matter. This two-day workshop, held at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, calls for a continued and cross discipline engagement with archives, and their sources. It aims to bring together PhD and Early Career Researchers in both history and social sciences, to engage in meaningful discussions on the ways in which archives have been constructed, maintained, and transformed in the 20th century.
The workshop has three themes at the centre of its approach (but remains open to related topics):
1. ARCHIVAL POWER STRUCTURES
Who has the authority to determine the ‘good archival’ practices and methods (historians, archivists, or policymakers and the state)? How do these developments shape power relations between state and citizens? How do you create an archive? How do you end one? Who decides this?
2. HUMANITARIANISM, MIGRATION STUDIES AND THE ARCHIVE
What approaches are necessary to consider records surrounding people in transit? How can we bring together both the theoretical concerns of the ‘archival turn’ and methodological insights of the ‘global turn’? How do we consider - and can we connect - vastly different archive constructions: from highly bureaucratic institutions such as the Red Cross, to local organisations like the Huddersfield Famine Relief Committee, to collections created and curated on the move by individual refugees?
3. ARCHIVES AND THE DIGITAL ERA
What does an increase in the belief in ‘fake news’, and in the use of artificial intelligence mean for online archives attempting to claim truth? What does the digitisation of archival material and the digitisation of bureaucratic services mean for the future of historiography? What kind of epistemological concerns does digitisation reveal (or: Is truth still relevant in a post-truth era of politics)? What kind of archives will be produced in the future?
ABSTRACTS and FORMAT
To allow for a wide range of researchers to take part in this discussion, the workshop will take place in a hybrid format, in Manchester and online. Please indicate whether you would like to speak in person or online in your application. We have a small number of travel and accommodation bursaries available for participants to attend in person.
Please send an abstract of 300 words to archivaltransformations@gmail.com by 5pm UK time on 19th January 2024. Please also include your name, a short biography (max. 100 words), the title of your paper, and your contact details. The outcome will be announced by 5th February 2024. Short pre-circulated papers will be due two weeks before the workshop.
WORKSHOP ORGANISERS:
Niamh Hanrahan (PhD Candidate, Humanitarianism and Conflict Response, University of Manchester)
Panagiotis Karagkounis (PhD Candidate, Humanitarianism and Conflict Response, University of Manchester)
Flora Chatt (Archivist, Humanitarian Archive at John Rylands Research Institute and Library)
Event sponsored by the John Rylands Research Event Grant
Partners: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures; The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts and Languages; Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute - all at the University of Manchester
