ABSTRACT
This chapter asks if the fundamental change demanded by critical archival theory is possible in light of the authorised archival discourse. Where does change come from? It considers what practitioners do to bring about more just archival practices. Can the authorised archival discourse be dismantled without a radical disavowal of institutional and custodial models of archival work? Whereas Laurajane Smith imagined an authorised discourse in opposition to an unauthorised (and thus more authentic) alternative, feminist philosopher Sara Ahmed suggests that this opposition is not straightforward. We are shaped by our proximity to things, the accessibility of particular ideas in light of our experiences. The direction we face and our orientation to any given phenomena – be it an archive or ideology – is situated. The chapter concludes by suggesting that an interlocutionary approach to archival and public history practices, which draw on Vygotskian theory of knowledge production and centralise the critical identification of values in exchanges between communities and archives, may provide a way forward.
