The Power of Oral Histories and Embodied Memory in Archives

Written documents have long occupied a privileged position in archives as the most authoritative memory source. However, this excludes vast repositories of knowledge that reside outside the written word, especially within Indigenous communities, where memory is often preserved and transmitted through oral traditions, performance, storytelling, ceremony, and embodied practices.

Indigenous and decolonial approaches to archives challenge the primacy of the written record and invite archivists to reconsider how memory is recorded, valued, and shared.

The Power of Oral Histories

Oral histories are more than recorded interviews or transcriptions; they are relational acts rooted in trust, reciprocity, and lived experience. Within Indigenous epistemologies, oral traditions are vital cultural systems for passing on knowledge, history, values, and identity. These forms are not supplemental to written archives; they are archives in and of themselves. They capture stories’ tone, rhythm, emotion, and context, reflecting a more holistic expression of lived truth.

In Western archival paradigms, oral histories have often been treated as secondary or unreliable due to their dynamic and interpretive nature. However, this flexibility is a strength. Oral traditions adapt to new circumstances, evolve with the community, and reflect the living nature of culture. Decolonial archival approaches recognize this and seek to elevate oral narratives to equal or greater status than paper records, especially in contexts where the written word was imposed through colonial structures.

Embodied Memory as Archival Knowledge

Embodied memory refers to knowledge held and expressed through the body through movements, rituals, crafts, dance, and other physical expressions of culture and identity. For many Indigenous communities, memory is lived: it is embedded in practices, the land, and how bodies move and remember.

For instance, weaving, drumming, or walking ancestral lands may be understood as archival engagement. These practices transmit generational knowledge and hold a memory that may not be documented textually. A decolonial archival approach respects these forms as valid and essential ways of knowing and remembering.

Archivists’ challenge is engaging with and honoring these embodied practices without extracting or freezing them. A photograph of a dance or a video of a ceremony cannot fully convey the communal, spiritual, and sensory experience of being there. The archives must then shift from a static information container to a dynamic, relational space that acknowledges its limitations and centers on Indigenous protocols.

Reframing Archival Authority

Indigenous and decolonial approaches to oral and embodied memory fundamentally reframe who holds authority in the archival process. Rather than the archivist or institution acting as gatekeepers, communities become the narrators, curators, and caretakers of their own stories, redefining archival processes not as neutral or objective but as situated and political.

For example, oral history projects guided by Indigenous methodologies prioritize informed consent, collaborative curation, and community control over how stories are recorded and shared. Some communities establish archival systems that operate independently of colonial institutions, embedding protocols for access, use, and cultural sensitivity reflecting traditional knowledge systems.

Archivists working within settler institutions can support this shift by acting as facilitators rather than custodians, ensuring that communities define the terms of engagement, determine how materials are described and accessed, and retain sovereignty over their records.

Challenges and Opportunities

Engaging with oral and embodied memory presents both practical and ethical challenges. How can digital archives responsibly represent oral traditions without reducing them to disembodied data? How can archivists protect sensitive or sacred knowledge while promoting access? These questions require deep listening, cultural humility, and long-term relationship-building.

Some innovative models are emerging. Indigenous knowledge labels, developed by Local Contexts, allow communities to assert cultural authority over digital content. Platforms like Mukurtu offer Indigenous communities tools to manage access and context on their terms. These initiatives point toward a future where archival systems are designed from the ground up with Indigenous sovereignty in mind.

Moving Toward a Living, Breathing Archives

Indigenous and decolonial approaches invite archivists to move beyond the confines of the written record and embrace memory in its full expression. Oral histories and embodied knowledge call for an expansive, relational understanding of the archives that centers on voice, presence, and community-defined meaning.

By making space for these forms of memory, archives can become more inclusive, ethical, and alive. They can evolve into places where stories are stored and shared; memory is preserved and practiced. In this future, the archives is a circle, a drumbeat, or a story spoken into being.