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Informal Archives: Historical Narratives and the Preservation of Paper in India’s Urban Slums

Studies in comparative international development, 2018-09, Vol.53 (3), p.343-364 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 ;COPYRIGHT 2018 Springer ;Studies in Comparative International Development is a copyright of Springer, (2018). All Rights Reserved. ;ISSN: 0039-3606 ;EISSN: 1936-6167 ;DOI: 10.1007/s12116-018-9270-5

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  • Title:
    Informal Archives: Historical Narratives and the Preservation of Paper in India’s Urban Slums
  • Author: Auerbach, Adam Michael
  • Subjects: Analysis ; Archival research ; Archives & records ; Comparative politics ; Discovery ; Ephemera ; Evictions ; Fieldwork ; Ghettos ; Historical analysis ; Historical data ; Historical research ; Migration ; Narratives ; Political collectibles ; Politics ; Preservation ; Production ; Scholarship ; Slums ; Social networks ; Social Sciences ; Urban areas ; Urban poor ; Urban poverty ; Usefulness
  • Is Part Of: Studies in comparative international development, 2018-09, Vol.53 (3), p.343-364
  • Description: Historical research is challenging when studying informal spaces like urban slums, where extant scholarship is limited, government data are sparse or absent, and populations change rapidly due to eviction, environmental shocks, and the everyday churn of migration. Moreover, written materials and political ephemera generated within slums are rarely preserved in accessible state archives, limiting the usefulness of conventional archival research. In such contexts, the discovery of informal archives—unmapped, non-systematized collections of materials kept by individuals and groups in the spaces under study—can contribute to the reconstruction of local histories. This article draws on 20 months of fieldwork in India’s urban slums to offer insights on the collection and use of informal archival materials. These materials afford an intimate look at how the urban poor organize and make claims on the state. Their analysis, however, involves inferential challenges. Researchers must consider how processes of production, preservation, and provision shape the content of gathered historical materials and thus the inferences that can be drawn from them. Beyond urban slums, informal archives are likely to be useful sources of historical data for a range of studies in comparative politics, especially those that focus on informal institutions and local quotidian politics.
  • Publisher: New York: Springer US
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0039-3606
    EISSN: 1936-6167
    DOI: 10.1007/s12116-018-9270-5
  • Source: ProQuest Central
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