The silence of the archive: post-colonialism and the practice of historical reconstruction from archival evidence

Decker, Stephanie (2012): The silence of the archive: post-colonialism and the practice of historical reconstruction from archival evidence.

Abstract

History as a discipline has been accused of being a-theoretical. For business historians working at business schools, however, the issue of methodology looms larger, as it is hard to make contributions to social science debates without explicating one’s disciplinary methodology. This paper seeks to outline an important aspect of historical methodology, which is data collection from archives. In this area, postcolonialism has made significant methodological contributions not just for non-Western history, as it has emphasized the importance of considering how archives were created, and how one can legitimately use them despite their limitations.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Business History; Historiography; Historical Methodology; Qualitative Methodology; Organization Studies
• Subjects: N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History; N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N87 - Africa ; Oceania; N - Economic History > N0 - General > N01 - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B0 - General; N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N80 - General, International, or Comparative; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology > B49 - Other

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