{"title":"Kindred contexts: archives, archaeology, and the concept of provenance","authors":"Bethany G. Anderson","doi":"10.1007/s10502-024-09459-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The disciplines of archives and archaeology are each about the power of context: they both preserve the context wherein objects and records are found and created to aid in their interpretation and take those materials as evidence of context. As context-based disciplines, archives and archaeology foreground the concept of provenance and construct meanings about objects and records from contextual relationships. Context, which is related to but also distinct from provenance, is difficult to disentangle from the latter. While sometimes conflated and used interchangeably, subtle differences distinguish the two concepts. This article explores the ways that archives and archaeology employ the concepts of provenance and context, and the messiness with which they do. Fundamentally, this exercise aims to understand where they might share common ground while enriching discussion and fostering introspection and cross-disciplinary exchange and suggest ways these fields might rethink and extend their own uses of these concepts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46131,"journal":{"name":"ARCHIVAL SCIENCE","volume":"24 4","pages":"761 - 781"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10502-024-09459-5.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ARCHIVAL SCIENCE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10502-024-09459-5","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The disciplines of archives and archaeology are each about the power of context: they both preserve the context wherein objects and records are found and created to aid in their interpretation and take those materials as evidence of context. As context-based disciplines, archives and archaeology foreground the concept of provenance and construct meanings about objects and records from contextual relationships. Context, which is related to but also distinct from provenance, is difficult to disentangle from the latter. While sometimes conflated and used interchangeably, subtle differences distinguish the two concepts. This article explores the ways that archives and archaeology employ the concepts of provenance and context, and the messiness with which they do. Fundamentally, this exercise aims to understand where they might share common ground while enriching discussion and fostering introspection and cross-disciplinary exchange and suggest ways these fields might rethink and extend their own uses of these concepts.
期刊介绍:
Archival Science promotes the development of archival science as an autonomous scientific discipline. The journal covers all aspects of archival science theory, methodology, and practice. Moreover, it investigates different cultural approaches to creation, management and provision of access to archives, records, and data. It also seeks to promote the exchange and comparison of concepts, views and attitudes related to recordkeeping issues around the world.Archival Science''s approach is integrated, interdisciplinary, and intercultural. Its scope encompasses the entire field of recorded process-related information, analyzed in terms of form, structure, and context. To meet its objectives, the journal draws from scientific disciplines that deal with the function of records and the way they are created, preserved, and retrieved; the context in which information is generated, managed, and used; and the social and cultural environment of records creation at different times and places.Covers all aspects of archival science theory, methodology, and practiceInvestigates different cultural approaches to creation, management and provision of access to archives, records, and dataPromotes the exchange and comparison of concepts, views, and attitudes related to recordkeeping issues around the worldAddresses the entire field of recorded process-related information, analyzed in terms of form, structure, and context