Opening Keynote

Filling the Gaps: Digital Humanities as Restorative Justice

 Zoom

⌛ Di, 8.3.2022, 18:30 Uhr

Abstract: GLAM collections form the infrastructure of digital humanities work, and digitization has exponentially increased the pool of available primary sources that can be manipulated with computers. At the same time, GLAM institutions embody Western worldviews, imperial expansion, and national aspirations. Using museum, archival and library collections without interrogating layers of power and domination inscribed in objects and documents puts us at risk of perpetuating these structures, and the dominant voices within. Striving to be mindful of gaps and silences in our collections though, we find ourselves locating that which is already visible, because information retrieval systems are predicated on discovery. – In her talk, Amalia S. Levi will showcase how imperial legacies are still shaping how archives, libraries, and museums organize and present world memory. She will also discuss ways that digital humanities methods can potentially help us overcome such limitations, promote a more equitable, nuanced, and multivocal view of our past, and promote restorative justice for silenced actors in the historical record.

About the speaker: Amalia S. Levi is an archivist and cultural heritage professional working with the non-profit HeritEdge Connection. She has worked in numerous projects processing and digitizing archival collections. She has Master’s degrees in History; Library Science; and Museum Studies. Her research focuses on ‘unearthing’ marginalized people, who are usually invisible in archives, by weaving together different types of information to go beyond archival documents. She is passionate for public outreach work that engages the public with digitized collections. She is currently conducting doctoral research at the University of Bonn’s Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies about the community of enslaved in Jewish households in Bridgetown, Barbados.