After reading Weld’s piece I found many connections to the points we made in our class discussion on Monday. This piece was based entirely around the act of archiving and the strenuous process of retrieving information and making sure that it is remembered. These archives that were found in Guatemala had a special story because they did not begin with archives. Weld takes the reader through the process of uncovering these articles, and then takes us through the actual process of archiving information, which is an extremely laborious process. This piece shows the difficulty that arises when you are presented with superfluous amounts of information, and how tedious the process of archiving is.
An important characteristic of this information is the power that was laden within it. These articles that were hidden by the Guatemalan government told stories of hundreds of thousands of people who were tortured and murdered, and then had their stories erased by those who killed them. As Weld states: “the police records acquired so much power during the armed conflict and they are being reimagined in a very delicate post war conflict.” (Weld 40) This quote made me think of our discussion on Monday where we discussed the importance of archives and how the medium can be the message. Weld also demonstrates the length and depth to which one must go to when archiving information because you cannot miss anything or else you cannot accurately archive.
I think that reading this piece really helped me understand Derrida’s piece about archiving and the true power of the archive. These archives tell powerful stories of a past that should not be forgotten in Guatemalan or global history. It amazed me that the Guatemalan government was able to hide away these documents for so long without having to face the consequences of what they did. This also made me think of the concept of archival power, and how institutions and those in power have the ability to control the information they want to share with the rest of the world.