Brighton and Sussex Sexualities Network

Archives and the Politics of History and Memory

Saturday 4 December 2010, 9.30am - 6.00pm
Falmer Campus, University of Brighton

Centre for Research in Memory, Narrative and Histories
A One-Day Symposium  

• How does an archive become an archive?
• How does agency and power operate in the archive?
• How do historians of class, gender, sexuality, 'race', ethnicity, disability negotiate the archival record in relation to cultural politics today?
• What role do archives play in the creation and contesting of cultural memory?
• What strategies are available for deciphering the archive, reading with and against the grain?
• How should historians respond to the 'silence' of the archives?
• How might the creation of new archives contribute to the production of radical histories and/or popular memories?
• Do personal papers and community archives offer an intimate antidote to absences in the institutional archives?  
• To what extent, and in what ways, has the digital revolution transformed the democratic potential of archives and their contribution to historical understanding?
• What are the political and ethical dilemmas faced by archivists in conflict zones, and how might these best be addressed?

Speakers:

• Sally Alexander (Emeritus Professor of Modern History, Goldsmiths, University of London and Founding Editor of History Workshop Journal)
• Beverley Butler (Lecturer in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage, Institute of Archaeology, University College London)
• Red Chidgey (DIY feminist historian, blogger and co-founder of the transnational digital archive and community resource, www.grassrootsfeminism.net <http://www.grassrootsfeminism.net
• Andrew Flinn (Lead Researcher, AHRC 'Community Archives and Identities: documenting and sustaining community heritage' project, Department of Information Studies, University College London)
• Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre (Artist and former member of the now disbanded Remembering Olive Collective, the South London community history, archive and blog project)
• Nick Mansfield (Senior Research Fellow in History at the University of Central Lancashire, formerly Director of the People's History Museum, Manchester)
• Alexandra Molano-Avilan (Community historian and activist, and former member of the now disbanded Remembering Olive Collective, the South London community history, archive and blog project)
• Anita Rupprecht (Senior Lecturer in Cultural History, School of Humanities, University of Brighton).

Registration:

This event is open to all but delegates must register in advance. The registration fee is £80, with concessions for retired/unemployed/unaffiliated delegates (£50) and students (£35). The registration fee includes tea/coffee and lunch.

To register to attend please email Nicola Clewer: nc95@brighton.ac.uk

The deadline for registration is 24th November.
 
For further information on the Centre please visit our website: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/mnh