Turning Archival - (Radical Perspectives) by Daniel Marshall & Zeb Tortorici

About the Book

The contributors to Turning Archival trace the rise of "the archive" as an object of historical desire and study within queer studies and examine how it fosters historical imagination and knowledge.

Book Synopsis

The contributors to Turning Archival trace the rise of "the archive" as an object of historical desire and study within queer studies and examine how it fosters historical imagination and knowledge. Highlighting the growing significance of the archival to LGBTQ scholarship, politics, and everyday life, they draw upon accounts of queer archival encounters in institutional, grassroots, and everyday repositories of historical memory. The contributors examine such topics as the everyday life of marginalized queer immigrants in New York City as an archive; secondhand vinyl record collecting and punk bootlegs; the self-archiving practices of grassroots lesbians; and the decolonial potential of absences and gaps in the colonial archives through the life of a suspected hermaphrodite in colonial Guatemala. Engaging with archives from Africa to the Americas to the Arctic, this volume illuminates the allure of the archive, reflects on that which resists archival capture, and outlines the stakes of queer and trans lives in the archival turn.

Contributors. Anjali Arondekar, Kate Clark, Ann Cvetkovich, Carolyn Dinshaw, Kate Eichhorn, Javier Fernández-Galeano, Emmett Harsin Drager, Elliot James, Marget Long, Martin F. Manalansan IV, Daniel Marshall, María Elena Martínez, Joan Nestle, Iván Ramos, David Serlin, Zeb Tortorici

Review Quotes

"Marshall and Tortorici masterfully compiled this work by interweaving theoretical discussions with practical examples, which invites not only scholars but also general readers to pick up the book. The editors skillfully incorporate multiple works by authors from different backgrounds to showcase the importance of archival research in uncovering and preserving stories, histories, and herstories of the LGBTQ+ community."--Drew Russell "American Archivist" (9/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"This book would interest those working on archival research, queer history methodologies, and cultural studies. By expanding and contracting our interpretation of archives, the book uses documentary sources to mediate the paradoxes of exploring queer lives. Every chapter is a unique opportunity to reconnect with the challenging, sometimes frustrating, but always gratifying labor of seeking queer and trans traces in documentary sources. Turning Archival can serve as an extensive toolbox with which to navigate the echoes and silences in the archives."--Patricio Simonetto "A Contracorriente" (1/1/2023 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Daniel Marshall is Associate Professor of Writing, Literature, and Culture at Deakin University.

Zeb Tortorici is Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures at New York University.