Tuesday 21 May 2019 – James Baker (Sussex) – Decolonial Futures for Colonial Metadata: 1838-present

This seminar is 5:15 pm – 6:15 pm, 25 May 2019, in Room 203 (the John S Cohen Room), second floor, Institute of Historical Research. The IHR is in the North block of Senate House, University of London. Find Senate House on Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU. It will also be livestreamed.

Session chair: TBC

Systems endure, their prejudices outlive the social situation in which they are created, they refuse to stay in place. Metadata is one such system. This paper examines the historical relationship between metadata and power. It considers the production of this pervasive, quiet, and enduring interlocutor between then and now. And it describes public history practice that attempts to create new digital archives in ways that do not reinscribe the violence of the colonial archive.

James Baker is a Senior Lecturer in Digital History and Archives at the University of Sussex. His research is funded by the British Academy, the British Council, the European Commission, and the Arts & Humanities Research Council.