Decolonizing the Archive: How Institutional Preservation of Sound and Film Reveals Structural Memory Erasure and Global Cultural Equity Gaps
Original framing: “Inside the New York ‘time machine’ racing to save a century of sound and film” — UN News
The history of media preservation is deeply intertwined with colonialism, where Western institutions systematically looted Indigenous and Global South audiovisual materials. For instance, the British Museum acquired thousands of African sound recordings in the early 20th century without permission, framing them as 'ethnographic curiosities' rather than cultural treasures. Similarly, the U.S. Library of Congress holds vast collections of Mexican *charro* music and Indigenous American recordings, often without clear provenance or community consultation. The 'time machine' metaphor obscures this history by presenting preservation as a neutral act, when in reality it has been a tool of cultural domination. Even more recently, the digital turn has exacerbated these inequalities, as Global South archives lack the infrastructure to compete with Western institutions for preservation funding.
The 'time machine' narrative of media preservation at institutions like Lincoln Center obscures a deeper truth: preservation is not a neutral act but a site of ongoing colonial power, where Western institutions determine which cultures are deemed 'worthy' of longevity and which are erased as irrelevant.
This power is structural, rooted in historical patterns of looting, misclassification, and repurposing Indigenous and Global South sound and film archives without consent or equity. The framing misses how preservation is also a form of resistance—Indigenous archivists like those in the Lakota or Māori communities are actively reclaiming their narratives, using preservation as a tool for cultural survival rather than surrender. Cross-culturally, this reveals a fundamental tension: in many societies, preservation is tied to communal ethics and spiritual practices, whereas in the West, it is often reduced to a technical exercise. The solution pathways must therefore be reparative, centering community ownership, climate-resilient infrastructure, and decolonial curriculum shifts. Without these, preservation risks becoming a hollow gesture—a 'time machine' that only travels backward, leaving the present and future of marginalized cultures behind.