Original scientific paper
Archiving Life (Childhood) Up Close. Some Reflections on the Problems of Archiving and Transcription of Field Records (Summary)
Jelena Marković
; Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku, ZAgreb
Abstract
This paper analyzes two seemingly technical, but in reality very complex issues which are the result of
methodological, ethical and epistemological dilemmas. One is the issue of (not) archiving fieldwork material
or its (partial or complete) public (in)accessibility in the context of safeguarding the participants, and the
other, related to the first one, is the issue of transcribing material, or transferring it from oral into written form.
The initial thesis is that archiving material only in the form of a transcript would partially solve the plethora
of ethical issues which are the result of archiving audio tapes, but would also open new, not necessarily ethical
issues.
The text presents some reflections on the issues of archiving and transcribing audio records collected during
the research of folkloristic and cultural-anthropological aspects of storytelling about childhood (Marković
2010), the reflections and their consequences stemming both from contemporary tendencies in ethnology/
cultural anthropology and folklore research, and markedly private impressions, conceptions and experiences.
Recently the archiving of especially ethnological material in the Special Collection of Ethnographic Material
of the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research has diminished. One of the reasons for giving up the practice of obligatory archiving is an attempt to avoid censorship and self-censorship of the researcher (who
is often not the researcher but the subject) and their interlocutors (who are less frequently the “anonymous”
members of a researched group). Not storing the material, on the other hand, can rob the research of its
legitimacy, and the material becomes unavailable for future research. In this sense, the text analyzes the
methods of transcription that would in part substitute the “hidden” fieldwork records witnessing life up
close, as well as frequently emotional and more intimate relationships of the interlocutors. The issues entailed
in transcription are questioned with regards to the use value of transcripts used in a scientific text and with
regards to the use value of transcripts stored on the shelves of a collection or archive without an available
reference to fieldwork audio records.
Keywords
field; informants; storytellers; fieldwork records; transcription; archiving material; storytelling about childhood
Hrčak ID:
63177
URI
Publication date:
22.12.2010.
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