The sociomaterial in archivist practices from post-qualitative research perspective

Abstract

Life in society shows that we are made up of several elements that shape us and associate us with the world. Thus, it is necessary to study theoretical perspectives that are able to highlight the role played by a diverse range of actors, configuring themselves as an assembly of things. However, it is quite common to consider that in archival practices, humans are generally perceived in a hegemonic way, whose objects/things, documents, are always passive to the action of these humans. I bring performativity and post-qualitative research to the theoretical debate, because I understand that objects/things must also be included in the analysis of a phenomenon, as they make up the process by which a given phenomenon unfolds. Methodologically I presented post-qualitative research, based on a non-anthropocentric view, unmasking the ways in which we are rooted in humanist ideologies, post-qualitative research offers a way of being in the world that fits and can engage the tangle that the world is. I believe that non-humans can be carriers of practices and have performances, just like humans. We need to show how the things that people do, make people do things. I do not intend to place objects/things above humans, or vice versa, but between them and vice versa. These objects/things can be used by us humans, but they can also use humans and influence, change an archival social practice, which then is no longer particularly human.