In both Katherine Bode and Roger Osborne’s chapter “Book history from the archival record” and Jean-Christophe Cloutier’s introduction to Shadow Archives, the authors reveal that archives are never neutral spaces. Archives are shaped by the cultural values, power structures, and technological conditions of the eras in which books are produced and preserved. Bode and Osborne explain that a book exists far beyond its physical covers, arguing that “no book was ever bound by its covers” (220). By tracing the “book network cycle,” they highlight how the creation and circulation of a text passes through numerous stages and hands including writers, editors, printers, publishers, distributors, collectors, and archivists. Each of these agents plays a role in determining which works are preserved and recognized as culturally significant. Therefore, archives become curated reflections of dominant ideologies.
Cloutier also argues that archives reveal the values and exclusions of their historical moment, especially when examining African American literature. He describes African American archives as “shadow archives,” existing in the margins because mainstream institutions historically excluded or undervalued Black writers and cultural production (12). His metaphor of the archive as a “boomerang” suggests that texts may disappear from view but can return to relevance when cultural interests shift or when scholars retrieve and reinterpret neglected materials. In this way, Cloutier illustrates how archival life cycles are deeply tied to questions of race, access, and institutional power.Both Bode and Roger Osborne’s text and Cloutier’s introduction raise questions about whether “dead” texts can return to life. The idea feels especially relevant in the digital age. I started to think about our last class in the Digital Humanities Center. Amaranth Borsuk’s Between Page and Screen demonstrates how a work can temporarily “die” and then be brought back to life. For example, when Borsuk’s Between Page and Screen’s software aged out, her work could not be read or shared. However 5 years later,it was revived through technical migration to new platforms. This digital example parallels Cloutier’s boomerang metaphor because texts can fall out of circulation not only due to cultural exclusion but also technology that continues to evolve and update rapidly.
Great point here: “In this way, Cloutier illustrates how archival life cycles are deeply tied to questions of race, access, and institutional power.Both Bode and Roger Osborne’s text and Cloutier’s introduction raise questions about whether “dead” texts can return to life.” And love how you connect this theory to our lessons learned!
Hi Micaela! I had come to similar conclusions after this weeks readings. Archives are curated, and each piece is picked for a reason. Some of these reasons are better than others. If African-American literature was as valued as its peers, then people wouldn’t have felt such a strong need to create African-American archives. But they’re not, so people created the archives in order to ensure these stories get read. I also like the idea of the boomerang– things fall in and out of fashions, and made a piece in an archive won’t be looked at in years. But, someone one day might find it, and it might be exactly what they were looking for. And connecting this the Borsuk’s book makes a ton of sense! Things can die, but as long as archivists exists, they’ll do their best to bring things back to life.
Hey Micaela, I liked how you connected Cloutier’s “shadow archives” with Borsuk’s Between Page and Screen. The parallel between texts disappearing through exclusion and through outdated technology was really interesting. It made me think about how fragile preservation is, both in physical and digital spaces, and how much it depends on who decides to keep something alive.
Hi Micaela, I really liked how you connected the readings to Between Page and Screen! It’s really interesting seeing an example of the “boomerang” effect in a very modern example. I wonder what institutional powers played role in how Between Page and Screen got resurrected (and continues to be alive). I would guess that it references classic texts and was written in a manner that was palatable to a wide audience has something to do with it.