Review of Seeking a New Life for Indigenous Archives

Thirteen essays in Afterlives of Indigenous Archives, assembled and edited by Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry Jr., collectively respond to the call to reconsider the archive and reinstate the principles and practices of indigenous archiving. The central element of such reconsiderations is the question of power sustained via the Western tradition of print culture and knowledge organization and, consequently, of conflicts and contradictions amassed in non-indigenous repositories that preserve Indigenous heritage. Exploring alternative ways of preserving indigenous materials, the volume takes the reader from institutional frameworks through an examination of specific cases toward projections of digital innovations in indigenous archives and emphasizes collaborative archival work of indigenous communities and non-indigenous institutions