For a theoretical regeneration of archival studies in Italy, starting from the concept of record

Abstract

Questioning the traditional divide between the legal notion of the document and its archival notion opens new horizons of investigation. What emerges is a new possible definition of the document, considered in the active phase of its life  ycle: no longer as the manifestation of a generic practical activity, but more specifically as a representation that pursues performative goals on social reality and that succeeds in this intent by adapting to precise structural criteria. The latter two appear to be linked to legal rules, which in some cases are more abstract because of their legislative nature, while in other cases they appear to be more specific with a customary origin. This “three-dimensional” perspective on the document – intersection among the dimension of social reality, that of law and the structural dimension  which in turn is urgent if one wants to overcome the vision of records management as an “empty simulacrum”.