A WSU-led research article titled “Always Coming Home: Territories of Relation and Reparative Archives” has received the 2022 W. Kaye Lamb Award for its exceptional combination of research, reflection, and writing.
“This is the culmination of nearly a decade of work between WSU, and the Nez Perce, Zuni and the Tlingit Tribes. It is exciting to be recognized for the research provided in this article,” said Kimberly Christen, co-author and founding director of the WSU Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation.
Named for William Kaye Lamb, the Dominion Archivist of Canada from 1948-1969, the award is the highest honor given by Archivaria, a journal devoted to the scholarly investigation of archives in Canada and internationally, and represents the best article of the year overall. The winner of the Lamb Award is selected by the journal’s general editor with the assistance of members from the Archivaria editorial board.
“This article significantly advances a decolonial approach to archival scholarship and practice; research participants become co-authors, the author is nothing more than a commentator, and direct citations are extensive. By challenging Western writing and research conventions, the reader is brought into a respectful conversation with Indigenous archivists and practitioners who tell stories about kinship, territorial relations, and cultural and linguistic heritage materials. The authors provide another dimension to the notions of dynamic relationships, relationality, and stewardship, which are prevalent in the contemporary archival realm,” said Jennifer Douglas, associate professor in the University of British Columbia School of Information and guest editor for Archivaria.
The article envisions practical strategies for the ethical return of digitized collections, data, and linguistic materials to Indigenous communities and models how to join technological solutions with policies and procedures which, in turn, build a relationship infrastructure between institutions and Indigenous communities.
That relationship infrastructure then allows for respectful archival listening, shared stewardship, and return practices that go beyond the exchange of information to a shift in research methodologies. Archival practices not only need to acknowledge territorial, intellectual, and cultural sovereignty of Indigenous knowledge systems and practices, but also need to incorporate the use of digital technologies and platforms in ways that meet unique informational, curatorial, research and data needs.
“As Indigenous/Native archivists, tradition bearers, tribal historians, storytellers and other keepers of Indigenous/Native knowledge, this work is an important way to show that we no longer have to fit the mold that we’re expected to fit in,” said Cordelia Hooee, co-author and cultural resources manager and archivist for the Pueblo of Zuni Cultural Resources Center. “This research brings to light how we interpret and preserve traditional knowledge and culture through our own methodologies and practices. We are the ones who shape that mold for others through our collaborations.”
The research team also included Josiah Blackeagle Pinkham, ethnographer for the Nez Perce Tribe, and Amelia Wilson, executive director for Huna Heritage Foundation, from the Tlingit Tribe.
“By highlighting the theories and local methodologies of Indigenous archivists and practitioners through their own narratives, we build on Indigenous theory as story work to interrogate archival systems, workflows, and policies that continue to replay settler-colonial tactics of removal and epistemic violence,” said Christen, who was appointed as associate vice president for research for the WSU system and associate vice chancellor for research at WSU Pullman in February.
“Always Coming Home: Territories of Relation and Reparative Archives winning the W. Kaye Lamb Prize is a worthy accomplishment,” said Zoe Higheagle Strong, WSU vice provost for Native American Relations and Programs and tribal liaison to the president. “This manuscript reflects a deep co-researcher collaboration between tribal experts and digital technologists like Kim Christen which highlights the vital importance of centering Indigenous knowledge, values and practice in archival work and policies which require confronting and repairing power imbalances.”
