Archival pluralism

Earlier today, I came across a passage in Michelle Caswell’s article On archival pluralism: what religious pluralism (and its critics) can teach us about archives (Archival Science 2013), where she quotes an article by Pluralizing the Archival Curriculum Group (The American Archivist 2011). The passage is so eloquently phrased, and should obviously not be limited to archival endeavours:

«How do we move from an archival universe dominated by one cultural paradigm to an archival multiverse; from a world constructed in terms of ‘the one’ and ‘the other’ to a world of multiple ways of knowing and practicing, of multiple narratives coexisting in one space? … How do we accept that there may be incommensurable ontologies and epistemologies between communities … and find ways to accept and work within that reality?»

It’s been a few years now since I stopped making New Year’s resolutions, but despite that, and despite the fact that the passage doesn’t provide any answers (or perhaps because of that?), I think I’ll try to let this inspire my 2014!