A Queer/Ed Archival Methodology: Theorizing Practice Through Radical Interrogations of the Archival Body
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A Queer/ed Archival Methodology: Theorizing Practice through Radical Interrogations of the Archival Body Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Lee, Jamie Ann Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 02:02:29 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/556236 A QUEER/ED ARCHIVAL METHODOLOGY: THEORIZING PRACTICE THROUGH RADICAL INTERROGATIONS OF THE ARCHIVAL BODY by Jamie Ann Lee __________________________ Copyright © Jamie Ann Lee 2015 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF INFORMATION RESOURCES & LIBRARY SCIENCE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2015 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Jamie Ann Lee, titled A Queer/ed Archival Methodology: Theorizing Practice through Radical Interrogations of the Archival Body and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 10 March 2015 Catherine F. Brooks _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 10 March 2015 Janet Ceja Alcalá _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 10 March 2015 Anne J. Gilliland _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 10 March 2015 Susan Stryker _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 10 March 2015 Francisco J. Galarte Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 10 March 2015 Dissertation Director: Catherine F. Brooks 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Jamie Ann Lee 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I sincerely thank the members of my committee for their guidance, encouragement, and care through this project. To Catherine F. Brooks, thank you for taking me on and wrangling me through my noodling over the years. Your ongoing support and intellectual curiosity made this entire process exciting and enjoyable. To Susan Stryker, whose breakfast and lunch conversations challenged my thinking beyond the archives and beyond the body. You always pushed me to pursue connections at the very limits of my understanding and supported my voyage into the rabbit hole of ongoing life-changing metamorphoses. To Anne J. Gilliland, who supported and grounded me in the archival studies discipline always with an eye to what might be re-imagined. Your mentorship, collegiality, intellect and experience, and greater vision of possibility for my work built my confidence to articulate arguments within our shared discipline always orienting towards social justice. To Janet Ceja, whose steady support within my own department offered those quiet moments to contemplate archives together. To Frank Galarte, whose suggested readings moved me into productive spaces of questioning my own privileges. Your steady support, intellect, generous insightful conversations, and sense of humor I am grateful for. Thank you all. I cannot imagine finishing without each of you in my corner. I also thank Ken McAllister, Adela C. Licona, and Michelle Caswell for your kindness and willingness to mentor me at home, over meals, with drinks, in the archives, at conferences, on the phone, and with Skype. Your willingness to remain engaged in conversations surrounding archives, queer theory, my passions, and what’s next is inspirational to me. I am grateful to friends, classmates, professors, and collaborators through the Knowledge River Scholars Program; SIRLS; Rhetoric, Composition and the Teaching of English, RCTE; Geography; and Gender and Women’s Studies. I am grateful to Geraldine Fragoso, Kris Hogeboom, Asya Roberts, and Ricky Salazar for gentle assistance in navigating the processes, forms, and hurdles the Graduate College requires so that I could focus on my research, reading, and writing. I am also grateful to my Archival Education Research Institute (AERI) family: Kathy Carbone, Marika Cifor, Stacy Wood, Pat Garcia, Tonia Sutherland, Mario Ramirez, Rebecka Sheffield, Ricky Punzalan, and so many more. Being a part of such a brilliant and caring archival studies community fills me. I thank E.G. Chrichton. Alana Kumbier, Amanda Wray, Bradley Boovy, Nana Osei Kofi, Natalia Fernandez, and Karma Chavez along with the elaborate conversations we had at the UNC-Asheville Queer Studies Conference, the Queer Migrations Conference, and at Oregon State University where we, as a community, put the Queer/ed Archival Methodology into action. Thank you to Anne-Marie Hall, Eithne Luibheid, Hai Ren, Tom Miller, Stephen Russell, and Fenton Johnson for your ongoing supportive questions about my work. 5 Thank you to the Institute for LGBT Studies and Susan Stryker for inviting me to make an archives, what has become the Arizona Queer Archives. I am grateful to the Institute for support and funding avenues as I dove in deep. To my friends who kept me laughing and thinking throughout the process: Rachel Srubas, Ken McAllister, Lizeth Zepeda, Shawna Thompson, Sandy Littletree, Lisa Logan, Londie Martin, Jessica Shumake, and Kimi Eisele. To Pan Left Productions and the social justice filmmaking community for ongoing technological and moral support through the years. To those who funded my initial ideas: Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC), the Alliance Fund, Arizona Humanities Council, Wingspan, and many individuals who have remained thrilled about building our histories together. Special thanks to my family—small and big—for continuing to love me and reminding me of what’s important in the everyday. 6 DEDICATION For Adela C. Licona, my life partner and best friend. Thanks for telling me that I am smart and for supporting my academic trajectory, from wrapping up my undergraduate degree at 37 through the doctorate at 45. You constantly remind me that I am and can be all of these things: head, heart, hands, and gut. You let me shine. I am grateful for that. For Sophia and Aida, the lovely and brilliant young women who have called me ‘step-mom’ all of these years. Your love and laughter lifts me and brings me home. To Grannie, my comadre, rest in peace, who loved me unconditionally all of these years and praised my genius when we watched Wheel of Fortune together. You certainly were a queer third-spacer. To my mom, Gerri Lee Lee, whose generous spirit and neologisms remind me that making meaning and connections to the world around us is filled with joy. To my brothers, Scott and Justin, and my sister, Mandi. I love you. To my dad, Rich, whose MacGyver-like ways inspired me to be creative and to tap into my own entrepreneurial spirit. “Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s courage.” Thank you, Anais Nïn, for reminding me always to be courageous. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………10 ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………...11 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: A QUEER/ED APPROACH TO ARCHIVAL BODIES…………………………………………………….14 A Queer/ed Approach: Queering and Querying…………………….14 Introduction………………………………………………… 14 The Journey into this Study on the Archival Body………… 17 Relevant Terms and Theoretical Lenses…………………… 21 Archives as Location and Practice…………………. 23 Normative/Normativity…………………………….. 24 Queer and Queer/ed…………………………………25 Embodiment & Focus on (Un)Becoming………….. 26 Techné ………………………………………………27 Somatechnics………………………………………. 28 Politics of Respectability……………………………29 Radically Open/Radical Openness…………………. 30 Methodology……………………………………………….. 31 Data Collection, Analytical Processes, and Research Questions………………………………………… 33 The Big Picture and Chapters to Follow…………………… 41 CHAPTER TWO WHAT IS AN ARCHIVES? SHIFTING PARADIGMS TOWARD RADICAL OPENNESS…………………………………………………. 45 Introduction………………………………………………… 45 Archivist INACTION: The Modern Archives……………………... 50 Archivist IN ACTION: The Postmodern Archives………………... 55 The Posthuman Archives…………………………………………... 60 Transdisciplinarity: Orienting Toward Radical Openness…………. 64 Conclusion: Influencing the Field………………………………….. 69 CHAPTER THREE BODIES AS ARCHIVES / ARCHIVES AS BODIES: ACCESSING MULTIPLICITIES THROUGH HUMAN/NON-HUMAN COMPORTMENTS……………………………………………………… 72 The Body. Reverberations. Re/collections…………………………. 72 Introduction………………………………………………… 72 Configurations and (Un)Becomings: 8 Bodies as Archives / Archives as