Luc Boeva, Former Director of the Archives of National Movements (ADVN) and Coordinator of the National movements and Intermediary Structures in Europe (NISE), is a speaker we invited for our conference Silenced Voices: Recovering Forgotten Narratives of European Peoples
A (political) collectivity is unimaginable without a collective memory that keeps the shared past alive and constantly translates it to the present. Within this collective memory, values and ideas are enclosed that define that collectivity and ensure its continued existence. Memory is rooted in heritage, consisting of that what is being kept and therefore becomes part of our individual and/ or collective memory. Heritage comes in all kinds of forms: in books, through visual arts and architecture, as landscapes and townscapes, via immaterial heritage practices, oral traditions etc. And, of course, in archives.
Throughout history, several reasons to keep archives developed: legal and administrative, historiographical, personal and political. Archives support and guarantee the rights and obligations of governments and citizens (in modern times becoming a precondition for a democratic society as well as bearing witness to repression and violence); provide the basis for original historical research; influence the contents and orientation of personal memory; and, last but not least are vital for collective memory i.e. the identity of a community, symbolising the survival of a culture– in the process even becoming a ‘luogo della memoria’ in itself.
In the 21st century, archival practices have been democratised through the new paradigm of ‘community archiving’: as a result of the digitalisation of society and therefore also archiving, an organisation, site or collection in which other people than professional archivists contribute knowledge or resources, usually in a online environment, leads to increased public understanding of archival materials and their content. Archivists and archival institutes working with the public strengthen democracy and identity, when at the same time retaining and upholding the professional and academical standards required – an evolution that has recently been bolstered by transnational cooperation and assistance. As a counter-force to developments like (social) media dumbing down or fake news, this evolution in archives management helps to maintain a broad, evidence- based collective memory: so… heritage matters!
“Memory and heritage and its preservation is critical to define collective and groups but memory is not only about looking back, it should also help us drive action towards the future so we build better societies” @NISE_eu @ADVNarchief Luc Boeva at #SilencedVoicesRijeka pic.twitter.com/1Zgh0Jbuxi
— Coppieters Foundation (@IdeasForEurope) November 23, 2021
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Photo by Coppieters Foundation.
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