This session will kick off the lecture series by centring the historically under-represented communities in the archives to address the key dilemma of striving for inclusion or refusing it. It will spotlight the role of audiovisual archives in upholding the ‘cultural archive’ (Wekker, Said), and discuss the community archives as independent, grassroots, activist heritage practice.

Discussion questions: Can the institutional archives be decolonised if it upholds the imagined community of the nation? How can non-institutional, community-led archives transform archival practices? What can institutional archives learn from them?

Reading group: 6 September 2024 at 15:00-18:00 at UvA Buzzhouse (OMHP). Please send an email to organizers to receive information and updates about the reading group meetings.