Indigenous knowledge and archives: accessing hidden history and understandings.

Over the past decade, I have been involved with numerous archival projects. All of these have had as their primary aim the uncovering of aspects of Indigenous history or culture. In each case, I had assumed that the archival knowledge I would uncover was not Indigenous per se but rather was western or colonial knowledge about Indigenous people and their cultures. This material was, for the most part, I had understood, the results of the surveillance of Indigenous people and their cultures. In short, these were archival texts within which Indigenous people were the object (and subject) of the gaze of colonial authorities and 'experts,' and from which Indigenous knowledge, perspectives and voice were excluded.

In this chapter, I interrogate this assumption and consider some of the issues that have arisen in using archives for the creation of Indigenous (or hidden) histories. I begin by establishing how I conceptualise Indigenous knowledge for the purposes of my argument. This is followed by an analysis of two case studies, one a project that was both familial and personal and the other an exploration of ethnographical details related to Indigenous people's understandings of weather and climate. I focus on some of the challenges each has presented and discuss how these have led me to develop a set of ideals which would enable archives and libraries to allow additions to the Indigenous records (and knowledge) housed in their collections. In the last part of the chapter, I highlight and discuss an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project I am involved with. My hope is that some of my concerns and the issues I broach below will be dealt with in this project which we entitled Trust and Technology. (1)

Indigenous Knowledge

It has become increasingly popular to refer to the concept of Indigenous knowledge as distinct and separate from western knowledge. This separation and what is often perceived as an incompatibility have been discussed at length by educationalists, anthropologists and philosophers and theorists alike. (2) However, as Donna Haraway reminds us, such perceived differences are perhaps rather arbitrary, as western knowledge and science in particular 'is above all a story telling practice'. (3) Contemporary interest in Indigenous knowledge is in part a result of global and local political engagements which have situated Indigenous issues and rights as a feature of human rights discourse and also a consequence of renewed interest in Indigenous cultures which stem from the neo-primitivist new age movements. In this context the term Indigenous knowledge is frequently used interchangeably with traditional knowledge. According to Warren, in a definition adopted largely by the United Nations and UNESCO:

 
   Indigenous knowledge (IK) is ... local knowledge--knowledge that is 
   unique to a given culture or society. [It] contrasts with the 
   international knowledge system generated by universities, research 
   institutions and private firms. It is the basis for local-level 
   decision making in agriculture, health care, food preparation, 
   education, natural-resource management, and a host of other 
   activities in rural communities. (4) 

Using this definition, we would not expect archives to house Indigenous knowledge as Indigenous knowledge is '[t]raditional knowledge [that] is generally transmitted orally and experientially and not written'. (5) However, using a definition supplied by Flavier et al, we might consider that information housed in archives can function as Indigenous knowledge, as it 'facilitates communication and decision-making'. (6) This particular definition depends on and recognises that Indigenous societies and cultures are utterly modem; they are dynamic and adaptive.

For the purposes of this chapter, I will use the term Indigenous knowledge in its broadest sense. Indeed, I am interested in any information, textual or other, that is housed within public, private or state archives, libraries or other institutions, which observes, and records Indigenous activities, and or people. This is not immediately or obviously Indigenous knowledge as it is knowledge not by but rather about Indigenous people. As most historians would agree these archival records are at least as informative for what they reveal about the record makers as they are for any 'knowledge' contained within them. Therefore, while I do not believe that the material housed in archives and libraries in general is Indigenous knowledge per se, such material can become Indigenous through reclamation processes which can be facilitated by libraries and archives and which, I believe, will bring the two parties closer together.

Case Study One: Looking for, Finding and Reclaiming Emily

Accessing Private and Confidential Knowledge

There is an inextricable link…