Archiving otherwise : some remarks on memory and historical responsibility

Abstract

This essay seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on memory, historiography and archiving by engaging Jacques Derrida’s influential book Archive fever: A Freudian impression. The first part of the essay deals with Derrida’s reflections on the word ‘archive’, as well as his discussion of the possibility of the destruction of the archive through the death drive and his argument about the archive and the openness towards the future. The rest of the essay aims, in conversation with Derrida, at reconfiguring archival passion as a passion for the past, a passion for justice and a passion for the future.