Daniel Drolet writes…

A lot of the real work of Congress is taking place quietly, in the classrooms of Carleton University. That’s where many of the sessions are held. At those sessions, the academics at Congress present their latest work to colleagues in what is inevitably a real exchange of information. The topics, of course, can be very narrowly focused and therefore not necessarily of interest to the general public. On the other hand, the people who do attend these sessions are very interested – and very knowledgeable.

I thought I should look in one some of those sessions. I chose one called Sex, Archives and Authority. Why? Well, why not?

The three people presenting were Steven Maynard, a social historian from Queen’s University; Gary Kinsman, from the Department of Sociology at Laurentian; and Patrizia Gentile, an assistant professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at Carleton.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Would the discussion be so narrowly focused as to be uninteresting?

It’s wasn’t. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I got to observe a fascinating discussion among committed and involved people about the roles and uses of archives and archival material, and how authorities (in particular the police) deal with requests for archival material involving sex.

I heard about frustrations, and I heard about how various researchers have tried – sometimes successfully – to overcome legal and other obstacles placed in their way by some archives who perceive their mandate to be the collection of information, not making it available to the public.

All of this is not something I think about every day – but these people have. Dr. Maynard, for example, related his frustrations with trying to obtain historical reports from the Toronto police morality squad through the Toronto Police Museum.

Those difficulties raise issues of how we deal with issues that are a perceived threat to national security – and are relevant today for issues of post-911 terrorism.

In other words, the debate – though focused – was relevant to broader issues.

While the debate was going on, I took a moment to have a quick look at the people around me.

A few observations:

First off, they looked relaxed. No one was in a hurry to dash off somewhere, and everyone looked interested.

The group was a mix of men and women, younger and older, and the standard uniform seemed to be jeans, though attire ranged from tie-and-jacket through to T-shirts with political slogans. (“We are all Palestinians,” said one.)

At the end of the talks, there were pointed questions and informed answers. And then everyone went on their way – presumably to another session.