This chapter takes the concept of ‘living heritage’ as a starting point to show the ways in which focusing on tangibility and intangibility, the formal and the informal, can be used to stretch the concepts of archival practice. It highlights the cultural and intellectual traditions, tangible and intangible, found within the Caribbean, Africa, and across the Diaspora. Accordingly, the institutions, organisations, concepts, and practices discussed here have a ‘pre-history’ both internationally and in the UK — a prehistory inseparable from the development of the intellectual and cultural history of African and Caribbean communities in the Diaspora. Despite this, an archival science capable of dealing with these complexities has yet to be developed. The chapter thus considers the ways in which Black-led archival practices in the UK have historically sought to both disrupt and define heritage practices. It makes a claim for the active, political and cultural incursions, disruptions, and interventions in the heritage sector by Black-led archives and heritage practitioners.
Community archives are often viewed as repositories of knowledge and experience that are nevertheless somehow remote from the taxpayers who often fund them. However, the idea of an archive has more recently been popularized by digital resources that allow access to established archives and also permit users to create archives of their own. This book examines the changing relationship between citizens and their notions of archives. The growing number of archives, and the evolving practices associated with collecting and curating, mean that we are now in the process of remaking the very idea of the archive. Communities have been at the heart of this exciting work and their experiences are both central to our understanding of this new terrain and in challenging the traditional histories behind the control of knowledge and power. Using a wide range of case studies, this edited collection shows how community engagement and co-creation is challenging and extending the notion of the archive.This innovative book examines the changing relationship between communities, citizens and the notion of the archive.Archives have traditionally been understood as repositories of knowledge and experience, remote from the ordinary people who fund and populate them, however digital resources have led to a growing plurality of archives and the practices associated with collecting and curating. This book uses a broad range of case studies which place communities at the heart of this exciting development, to illustrate how their experiences are central to our understanding of this new terrain which challenges traditional histories and the control of knowledge and power.Using a wide range of case studies, this edited collection shows how community engagement and co-creation is challenging and extending the notion of the archive.