Book Reviews

Defining a Discipline: Archival Research and Practice in the Twenty-First Century, Essays in Honor of Richard J. Cox. Jeanette A. Bastian and Elizabeth Yakel, eds. Chicago, IL: Society of American Archivists, 2020. Paper, $103.20 (ISBN 978-1945246272).

While the act of defining typically underscores features that establish limits and exclusivity, this book honoring Richard J. Cox, a celebrated scholar, educator, mentor, and contributor to the archival discipline in the United States, does the opposite. Instead, this volume offers expanded and more inclusive meanings and values to archival scholarship, praxis, and pedagogy through the insightful essays written by Cox’s former students and colleagues. The essays, according to Bastian and Yakel, “seek to carry his vision of an archival discipline and the transformational power of scholarship forward. At the same time, push this vision into new, related directions” (ix). Indeed, this book pushes beyond the limits of archiving traditions that for many years have defined the discipline and how archivists understand why they do what they do.

The essays are categorized into four themes: accountability and evidence, ethics and education, archival history, and memory. The themes reflect the areas that define Cox’s major influence and resonate with the issues central to archives and records in the United States and in the global context. Each section has three or four articles, ending with a brief commentary that thoughtfully brings together the views and ideas of the authors in relation to each section’s theme.

The first section, accountability and evidence, presents different cases that interrogate records as evidence and as sites of manipulation, politics, and power. The discussion begins with the case of war crimes in Vietnam, wherein David Wallace raises the need to revisit archives and recordkeeping as truthful mechanisms that will establish reality different from what the official records reflect. Wendy Duff and Jefferson Sporn examine the concept of archival evidence by putting forward a collaborative model of creation of testimonies as valid and powerful tools for emancipatory purposes. To further expound the concept of accountability while engaging more human elements and the affective impact of archives, Michelle Caswell, Joyce Gabiola, Gracen Brilmyer, and Jimmy Zavala reframe accountability from legal to ethical perspectives. Ethics and responsibility are also at the center of Luciana Duranti’s essay as she analyzes the concepts of truth, evidence, and trust, urging the archives and recordkeeping profession to rebuild their authority through various infrastructures. Heather Soyka ends this section with a commentary summarizing the essays’ essential points with respect to the archivists’ obligation to do more work to tackle the evolving concerns on accountability, power, and authority.

Discussions about ethics, integrity, and responsibilities of archivists continue in the following section, ethics and education. This section presents ways that archivists actively participate in changing the traditional archival mindsets while highlighting the need for transparency in archival decisions and actions, as well as the importance of a commitment to translate archival theories to more pluralized pedagogical approaches and imaginative activities. Heather MacNeil questions the notions of integrity and accountability of records, arguing that it is the ethical duty of archivists to treat care records of children as unheard voices that must be included and made accessible in the archives. Eleanor Mattern examines Hillary Clinton’s case of using her private email, maintaining that NARA should continuously monitor and improve its regulatory requirements and be more transparent with the processes. Moving away from conventional ways of teaching based on standards, Anne J. Gilliland and Kathy Carbone focus on how to design and implement their archival courses using the fourth dimension of the records continuum as the framework, another approach on how archives can be used as a space for imagination and creation of new artworks, records, and experiences. In her commentary, Alison Langmead recaps the ideas presented and remarks that archivists possess power and must take responsibility for their choices.

Looking into the past and future of archives, the third section, archival history, focuses on the historical study of records and recordkeeping in different contexts and topographies. Donghee Sinn investigates the dynamics of the No Gun Ri community and how the members want their marginalized stories to be told, remembered, and understood. Lindsay Kistler Mattock presents how archives become important sites of making, imagination, and empowerment, especially with the use of new media. Patricia Galloway narrates the story of how professional networks operate, particularly the activities done by Camp Pitt in assisting the members of their community of practice. Robert B. Riter provides the commentary in the end, underlining Cox’s optimism on the continuous advancement and maturity of the archival discipline and its history.

The dynamic relationship between memory and archives has occupied a significant place in the contemporary archival discourses. In the final section, memory, the authors share how social memory can be created and performed in ways different from what have been conventionally observed. Janet Ceja Alcalá details how commissioned fiesta videos of a small Mexican town construct social memory and identity of the community members. Using the case of African American land ownership, Tonia Sutherland attests the need to recognize the value of orality and not only the traditional textual records in protecting the memory and rights of the marginalized. Jeannette A. Bastian presents the changing role and performance of memory in various contexts, especially in this era in which various technologies can easily create instant and individual memories. In his commentary, Joel Blanco-Rivera stresses the need for archivists to accept new views and reconceptualizations of archival concepts and practices, mainly those concerning the creation of memories. Finally, as the discipline moves forward, James O’Toole recounts the contributions of Cox and his generation.

The book stays true to its overall intent: to honor Cox and to define the archival discipline by responding to his call and vision toward the emergence of new and progressive ideas and discovering the role and potential of archives within and outside the field. The essays are particularly helpful for those who are planning to join and stay in the archives and recordkeeping profession, as they contemplate the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of their responsibilities. Aside from the writings, the inclusion of Cox’s paintings that were outcomes of his hobby adds a human touch to the book and its themes. The entire constitution of this volume therefore echoes an important invitation: to continuously define, explore, and humanize the archival discipline.—Iyra S. Buenrostro, School of Library and Information Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman