Decolonizing the Caribbean Record: An Archives Reader ed. by Jeannette A. Bastian, John A. Aarons, and Stanley H. Griffin (review)

“The Last Bastion of Colonialism: Decolonizing Caribbean Archives” was the title of Stanley Griffin’s paper at the Association of Canadian Archivists’ annual conference in 2020, its title alone indicating how different decolonization looks from the Caribbean than from Canada. From Griffin’s position as lecturer in archives at the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona, Jamaica, colonialism was down to its “last bastion,” the archives. In Canada, there remain many bastions of colonial power: Canada may have exited the British Empire a century earlier than Jamaica, but we merely exchanged a distant colonial government for a settler government that practices its own forms of colonialism.

This difference in perspective is perhaps the best reason for Canadian archivists to pick up this excellent volume of essays, edited by Griffin along with Jeannette Bastian and John Aarons. Archives in the Caribbean face a host of challenges that may be unfamiliar to Canadian archives, including “a tropical environment characterized by high temperatures, recurrent natural disasters, and the susceptibility of pest and insect infestation,” (p. 11) as well as many with which we are also familiar, such as the disparity between mandates and funding, the difficulty of catching and holding the attention of users and funders, and the frequent inadequacy of facilities to archival work. Whatever these similarities and differences, in thinking through and responding to the challenges of decolonization, Caribbean archivists are far in advance of most archivists in Canada and the United States, if this volume is any indication.

Bastian, Aarons, and Griffin have given themselves a generous canvas: 816 oversized pages, densely printed, delivering 39 essays, by 38 contributors, and a brief but trenchant editors’ introduction. Upon this oversized canvas, they have depicted an appropriately vast subject: Caribbean culture, breaking through in a dazzling sunrise, as characterized by Nobel laureate Derek Walcott: “There is a force of exultation, a celebration of luck, when a writer finds himself a witness to the early morning of a culture that is defining itself, branch by branch, leaf by leaf, in that self-defining dawn, which is why especially at the edge of the sea, it is good to make a ritual of the sunrise” (p. 4). This is a visualization of the task that Bastian, Aarons, and Griffin set for themselves, combining the breaking of the night of colonization with the force of creativity that animates so much of Caribbean culture and achievement.

Key to that dawning archival decolonization in the Caribbean, and to the genesis of this volume, is the launch of the region’s first Master of Arts in Archives and Records Management, at UWI in 2016. The editors explain that “these essays are meant to serve as educational tools for students and models for archivists in the region” (p. 6). Faced with an archival literature that skews toward theorizing and case studies from Europe, North America, and Australia, and recognizing the inadequacy of this literature to support their vision of a decolonizing archival theory and practice in the Caribbean, the editors have assembled a body of case studies, practical guidance, and theory that would better suit these needs. The book is studded throughout with textbook-style expositions of specific aspects of records work. Among the best of these are Aarons’ essay on the collection, management, and use of private archives (one of four pieces he wrote or co-wrote); Cheri-Ann Beckles’ treatment of information rights (including rights of access to information, privacy, and intellectual property); and Elizabeth F. Watson’s detailed exposition of the cultural need for, and technical requirements of, archives of sound recordings. As a Canadian archival educator, I found these pieces to be engaging, up-to-date, and well-rounded, and I intend to make use of several in my own teaching. Graduates of the UWI MA in records work undoubtedly will keep...