Unlocking the Archive: Cultural and Ethical Considerations Surrounding the Future of the Melanesian Film Archive

Michael Philip  Alpers; Susanna  Castleden; Helena Grehan; Elizabeth Anne McKenzie

doi:10.37683/asa.v53.11025

Michael Philip Alpers Department of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Susanna Castleden Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6713-006X
Helena Grehan Human Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9257-5615
Elizabeth Anne McKenzie Department of Archives, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37683/asa.v53.11025

Keywords: Audiotapes, Digitisation, Digital repatriation, Films, Indigenous, Kuru, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The Melanesian Film Archive (MFA) is an extensive collection of medical and anthropological films. Medical films in the archive principally concern the work of Dr D. Carleton Gajdusek, Michael P. Alpers and others related to the aetiology of kuru, a neurodegenerative disease. The Archives’ anthropological collection comprises 513 research documentary films, mostly shot in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the 1960s, but also in Melanesia, the Pacific region and elsewhere; anthropological records are supplemented by reel-to-reel audiotapes. This paper considers access and sharing complexities caused by recent preservation activities, including digitisation of these fragile and important films and associated documentation to preserve them for future researchers. Digitisation and possible digital repatriation of this material raise important cultural, legal and ethical considerations that must be addressed, including MFA data governance needs and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) rights, access and sharing.

Author Biographies

Michael Philip Alpers, Department of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

Michael Philip Alpers AO, FRS, FAA is an Australian medical researcher, and an Emeritus Professor of Health Sciences at Curtin University.

He combined his understanding of the Fore people in Papua New Guinea with his medical training to reveal how the degenerative brain disease kuru was transmitted. His collaboration with Carleton Gajdusek led to findings that are of central importance in understanding related prion diseases, including BSE and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. His interest in public health and collaborative research led to many publications on tropical diseases, which are also the diseases of poverty. His most recent publications is Whitfield JT, Pako WH, Alpers MP. Metaphysical personhood and traditional South Fore mortuary rites. Journal de la Société des Océanistes – 2015; 141:303-321.

Susanna Castleden, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

Susanna is an artist and Associate Professor at Curtin University, Western Australia where she is currently interim Director of the John Curtin Gallery. Prior to this, she was Dean of Research in the Faculty of Humanities. Susanna has received several national art prizes and awards including the Linden Prize; Fremantle Print Award (runner up); the Burnie Print Prize, Joondalup Art Prize, and the Bankwest Art Prize. Susanna’s work is included in major collections including the National Gallery Australia and the Art Gallery of WA. Other collections include Murdoch Art Collection; Artbank Australia; BankWest Collection; City of Fremantle Art Collection; Cruthers Collection; Edith Cowan University Art Collection; Kerry Stokes Collection; The Horn Collection; City of Joondalup Collection; Turner Gallery Art Angels Acquisitions; Little Collection; Burnie Regional Gallery Tasmania; Wesfarmers Collection; The Royal Perth Hospital Art Collection; The University of Western Australia Art Collection. Susanna is a member of the Print Council of Australia and was a Director on the Board of PICA for 6 years

Helena Grehan, Human Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia

Helena Grehan is Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Research Fellow at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University. She has published widely on performance and politics, spectatorship and ethics and new media dramaturgy. Her most recent books include: The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Politics (co-edited with Peter Eckersall), New Media Dramaturgy (with Ed Scheer and Peter Eckersall) and William Yang: Stories of Love and Death (with Ed Scheer). She is Lead Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council Linkage project: ‘Life After Digitisation: futureproofing W.A.’s vulnerable cultural heritage’. She is Deputy Editor of Performance Research.

Elizabeth Anne McKenzie, Department of Archives, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

Elizabeth McKenzie is the University Archivist at Curtin University. In this role she is responsible for Curtin’s memory and several special archives. Her previous work includes roles in government, the private sector and tertiary education in libraries, information management and archives