concepts, ideas and examples

There was much in this article to contribute to the theory and practice of archive ethnography - I hope to touch on the points that were most influential and helpful for me. First, I appreciated the discourse on reading “against the grain” with existing archives. For me, this is especially useful as much material on California prisons exists in state and federal archives but the voices of prisoners and the emphasis on rehabilitation is typically invisible. I love the idea of using an existing archive for insurrection and subversion. Additionally, there was a direct call for the ethnography of the archive as a way for the curator/researcher to be an active participant and historian, to tie together structures and ideas as they are presented in the collection. I appreciated the discussion about the internet as an archive because it is so far-reaching that it becomes difficult to carefully curate. Additionally, the caution about digital archives was so helpful because I hadn’t considered that technology changes rapidly and archivists should take care to create their archives in a way that is accessible and compatible with new technology or risk losing it.