Reflections on User Studies in Archives from a Social Justice Perspective

Abstract

This research aims to demonstrate the importance of the social categories of class, race, gender and sexual orientation in user studies in archives, from the perspective of social justice. To this end, through bibliographical research carried out by means of a narrative literature review, we address the increasingly social development of Archivology, where debates related to access and dissemination are gaining more and more momentum. In this sense, we bring up reflections on user studies in the field, highlighting concepts and their theoretical and practical potential. Then, we try to list categories that can make up user studies that are, from a historical and dialectical materialist perspective, inclined to understand the contexts of social inequalities within users, demonstrating the relevance of social justice in archives. Based on documentary research, socio-economic data on the Brazilian reality was used to contrast with the sociological discussions presented in the text. It was shown that there is a lot of potential in using social categories to characterize the profile of archive users, because through this data it is possible to measure whether the lack of access to archives is related to the structural inequalities observed in contemporary sociability, also helping to develop alternatives that can overcome this reality.