Genres of the trace: memory, archives and trouble

  • Verne Harris
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01576895.2012.735825
Keywords: archives, memory, trace, deconstruction

Abstract

Harris offers a brief preliminary deconstructive reading of archives–memory nexuses. The reading is positioned in relation to what he sees as a paucity of engagement between archivy and the emerging memory industry. While, at one level, the essay is simply a reading of Jacques Derrida and Paul Ricoeur within archives–memory nexuses, at another, it is an attempt to demonstrate how troubled, and troubling, these nexuses are. Harris ranges from theoretical to anecdotal, conceptual to political, and argues that archives and memory are best understood as genres of the trace.

Author Biography

Verne Harris

Verne Harris is Head of Memory Programming at the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory and has been Mandela's archivist since 2004. He is an honorary research fellow with the University of Cape Town and has participated in a range of structures which transformed South Africa's apartheid archival landscape, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a former Deputy Director of the National Archives. Widely published, he is probably best-known for leading the editorial team on the best-seller Nelson Mandela: Conversations with Myself. He is the recipient of archival publication awards from Australia, Canada and South Africa and both his novels were shortlisted for South Africa's M-Net Book Prize. He has served on the Boards of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, the Freedom of Expression Institute and the South African History Archive.

Published
2012-11-13
How to Cite
Harris V. (2012) “Genres of the trace: memory, archives and trouble”, Archives & Manuscripts, 40(3), pp. 147-157. doi: 10.1080/01576895.2012.735825.
Issue
Vol 40 No 3 (2012)
Section
Articles

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