Archival Ambivalences

Abstract

The combination of the three terms–architecture, coloniality and modernity– has turned out to be a most productive research field. Among its results it counts a growing library of new and innovative research, which aims to reassess established histories and theories to open the discourse for hitherto unheard and overlooked voices, as well as new conceptual frameworks and methodologies. Scholars in the field know that such reassessment is easier said than done. Despite this productivity, the structures of our institutions are also quite tenacious, even when one can observe signs of change. The struggles around those terms are not just related to power and the control over the discourse. They are particularly sensitive, since they concern issues of historical and archival justice, and who decides about that. Next to identity issues, value systems are brought into the equation; neutrality is neither possible nor accepted. More than before, positionality and relationality have become key aspects of research practices regarding their validity and criticality. [...]