Music Archives and Repatriation

This chapter considers issues in repatriation of digital copies of field recordings of music obtained during the colonial era. It is based on the Hugh Tracey Collection preserved at the International Library of African Music (ILAM). A summary of Tracey’s early life and his work throughout sub-Saharan Africa from 1929 to 1972 is followed by the reasons why, with digital conversion and online access to the Collection accomplished, digital return and restudy of Tracey’s field recordings became the ethically responsible thing for ILAM to do. Description of the return of his Kipsigis recordings of “Chemirocha” to their source community in Kenya is followed by consideration of how Tracey’s embrace of the colonial worldview—with its inherent paternalism, racism, and white privilege—mandates digital return as an act of reciprocity and archival ethics. It suggests this gesture toward decolonization of ILAM serves as a model for decolonization of ethnomusicology at large.

Ethical Concerns for Archivists

Archivists serve many constituencies and often find themselves mediating conflicting interests among records creators, donors, researchers, and their own institutions. Ethical concerns for archivists sometimes have easy answers, but more often require sensitivity to multiple perspectives and balancing of divergent interests. The nature of the archivist's role in meeting these expectations varies somewhat according to the type of institution he or she serves. A written code of ethics can assist professional associations in evaluating actions when questions of unethical practice arise. In 1980 the Society of American Archivists adopted its first "Code of Ethics for Archivists." Revised in 1992 and again in February 2005, the code is now aspirational and general, providing a broad framework for resolving ethical dilemmas within the archival community. The basis for archival ethics consists of ten internationally accepted principles of archival ethics.