Friday, September 7, 2012
FREE Symposium: Archives & Activism
New York Archives Week 2012 Symposium: Archives & Activism
Co-sponsored by the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York,
Inc. and the New School Libraries and Archives
Friday, October 12, 2012
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
Arnhold Hall
The New School
55 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011
8:30am to 6:00pm
Register at www.nycarchivists.org
Archives and Activism
If archivism was indeed ever exclusively ideologically neutral in its
approach to managing historical materials, many archivists have come to
see said objectivity as illusory at best. Principal amongst the reasons
for this shift in perspective within the archives community is a growing
awareness that its custodianship of cultural materials can never be
enacted in a manner wholly divorced from interpretation, advocacy, and
the ever-present demands of the socially or economically powerful
institutions that fund and administer archives.
Despite the extent to which this emergent awareness has affected how
archivists approach their responsibilities, there remains a mistrust of
the archival world by those most committed to the dismantling of
hegemonic structures, particularly amongst activists, on the grounds
that traditional institutional frameworks often fail to provide adequate
transparency, accountability or sensitivity to the needs of marginalized
individuals, communities, and movements.
How far can, and should, archivists go in responding to the concerns of
the movements they are attempting to document? Should they be
rethinking, even overhauling, traditional archival practice? This
symposium addresses a range of issues attendant upon archives' evolving
relationships with activism and social justice. Among these concerns
are: ownership, trust, and exclusion; self-documentation by activist
communities and participatory archives; and collaborations between
activists, archivists, and researchers using emerging technologies.
Presenters representing a variety of institutions, initiatives, and
activist communities will explore theoretical concerns as well as
practice-based approaches to documenting social activism.
This symposium is dedicated to the memory of archivist and historian
Michael Nash (1946-2012).
The preliminary schedule for the symposium is now available at
www.nycarchivists.org
