Today was the first day of the Housing Memory conference at the Faculty of Information in the University of Toronto, a graduate student event draing presenters from around North America. I had the pleasure of presenting a paper on libraries in recent conflicts (Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq) and received plenty of useful feedback. It had been some time since I presented at a conference and I had forgotten just how valuable the experience can be. The questions help me think more and discover gaps in my thinking. There is also a certain je ne sais quoi about the personal interaction with fellow panelists and the audience that really adds something to the experience.
The other papers and discussions at the conference has also been interesting so far. One of the most thought-provoking moments of the day involved a discussion about the political and professional obligations of archivists. Specifically, a question was raised about whether granting access to certain sensitive materials (e.g. police records from South Africa’s apartheid regime or records from the Stasi from East Germany) could be damaging to the user and to society more generally. My own work in archives has not involved this particular challenge, but it may in the future. Nonetheless, I think it is valuable to begin grappling with these questions in the safe environment of a conference first, a situation where one can pause and consider the issues rather than responding to specific requests.
The day’s program concluded with a wide-ranging and thoughtful lecture by Dr. Geoffrey Bowker on, “Memory Practices and the Imagined Future Self.” He considered how memory, reading, and forgetting has changed over time. The questions were also very good. I only wish that I had noted down some of the many references Dr. Bowker provided – there were many promising scholars and works cited.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow as well.
Bruce
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