Decolonising the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Archives Service
In this, the fifth in a series of blogposts from the Inclusive Cataloguing Working Group of the Diversity and Inclusion Allies, Victoria Cranna, Archivist and Records Manager looks at:
Decolonising the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Archives Service
Background
Within the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Archives Service we are re-examining the way we work, the stories we tell and the role we can play in promoting different versions of history. This was originally inspired by the work of Dr Lioba Hirsch, a LSHTM history research fellow working on a project entitled LSHTM and colonialism: history and legacy. However, the global response to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 further encouraged us to engage with our collections and archival practices from a decolonising perspective.
Inevitably, the LSHTM archives are steeped in the colonial history of our School. LSHTM was originally founded in 1899 as an institution for the research and treatment of tropical disease, in an effort to improve the health of those working in the British colonies. As a result, the histories preserved within our collections are generally those of white, male, colonial explorers, researchers and medical professionals. While there is value in these stories, and the contributions these individuals made to tropical medicine; they are also reflective of the colonial era in which they were produced and are necessarily informed by the values and attitudes of the time.
Definition of decolonising
Through our research for our decolonising initiative. we are aware of a number of definitions of decolonising and issues associated with these. Some of these are explored in the article Decolonising the LSHTM Archives Service published in Archives and Records, (Volume 42, Issue 30) written in collaboration with Dr Lioba Hirsch.
We use the following quote in our Decolonising the Archives principles on our website which we feel sums up our approach:
"When archivists and their institutions acknowledge the marginalization or absence of the oppressed they must respond through establishing a reparative archive that engenders inclusivity. Reparative archival work does not pretend to ignore the imperialist, racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist, and other discriminatory traditions of mainstream archives, but instead acknowledges these failures and engages in conscious actions toward a wholeness that may seem to be an exercise in futility but in actuality is an ethical imperative for all within traditional archival spaces."[1]
We have discussed replacing the term ‘decolonising’ with ‘inclusive practice’, however LSHTM uses the term decolonising widely, for example there is a Decolonising Global Health Group and a Decolonising the Curriculum toolkit so it makes sense for us to use the term to ensure that our work is relevant to the institution. We are aware that decolonising can focus archives on their colonial records, whereas we want to ensure that all marginalised groups are included in our approach.
Principles on Decolonising the Archives
As a result of our heightened awareness and research, the team developed a set of Decolonising the Archives Principles and an action plan which provides a framework for our ongoing work, as we aim to address the bias inherent within the archive, decolonise our collections, and look to create a more inclusive research environment. These were launched in 2020. The principles are as follows:
Cataloguing practice
Create cataloguing guidelines for decolonising current collections and future collections
Review current catalogues in terms of terminology/language/emphasis/omissions
Use secondary sources more critically eg School histories
Archival practice
Review and amend Archive policies, statements and procedures and consider how these have contributed to the erasure and marginalisation of underrepresented groups
Dissemination
Tell a different story with our collections
Acknowledge colonial history and racism within certain collections without appearing to excuse it
Create opportunities for discussion and critical engagement from a decolonisation perspective
Create opportunities and work in partnership with colleagues in the School including Decolonising Global Health Group and Centre for History in Public Health on events
Re-evaluate the content of current regular events such as Open House, Student Open Day and History Day and how decolonising principles/content can be included
Education
Archives team to undertake training in diversity, inclusion and intersectionality
Read and study resources provided by groups and networks such as Decolonising Global Health Group, Archives and Records Association and The UK National Archives in order to continue our professional development in this area
Inclusivity
Ensure that the LSHTM Archives Service is inclusive to all of our users
Review our recruitment practices for future posts
We have been working with these principles for two years now and regularly reflect on the areas that we have progressed in our service, one area that we have worked on recently is recruitment. We have reviewed our recruitment practices, and for the recent recruitment of the Archives Assistant we removed the requirement for the applicant to have an undergraduate degree or to have experience in an archive which we now realise was very limiting for people to get into the profession. We will assess if this has had an effect on the candidate pool at the end of the recruitment process, although we are currently shortlisting and every candidate has a degree and 20% are qualified archivists. This is a reflection on the current job market and number of archivists when qualified archivists are applying for entry level roles.
We have received positive feedback on our approach to decolonising the archives, both internally and externally, and are receiving regular requests to discuss these with archive colleagues in other institutions and to speak at events. We believe our principles can contribute to the wider work of LSHTM, especially in terms of critical engagement with our colonial history and the use of archival material in teaching and research. We are happy to discuss our work in more detail, for further information, please contact archives@lshtm.ac.uk
[1] Quote: Hughes-Watkins, Lae'l (2018), Moving Toward a Reparative Archive: A Roadmap for a Holistic Approach to Disrupting Homogenous Histories in Academic Repositories and Creating Inclusive Spaces for Marginalized Voices, Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 5 , Article 6. P.3.
Thumbnail image photo credit Victoria Cranna