Alternative Histories and Counter-Memories

Queering the Community Music Archive

“…The DIY institutions discussed in Baker's research are part of a broader movement in community-based ownership over archival and historical material which has been identified by Flinn (2007). The recent archival turn in popular music studies can also be observed in feminist and queer scholarship (Reitsamer 2015;Cooper 2015;Eichhorn 2010 and an increased focus on queer and feminist archiving is also evident in the field of information studies (Keilty & Dean 2013). The interest of this article begins at the point where these grassroots initiatives/institutions with a focus on affective communal/community histories converge.…”

“…While there is evidently a growing body of literature on feminist and queer archives, as identified earlier by Reitsamer (2015) only a handful of these consider archives of popular music cultures, and those that do tend to concentrate on feminist or gendered archives. Work on archives of queer popular music is largely peripheral.…”

“…With limited resources and funds, the women produced few 'finished' recordings, let alone professionally-recorded tracks, and garnered little exposure beyond an audience of feminists who were already directly involved in the movement in specific places and times (Withers , 2015b. Thus, it lacked the kind of concrete, recorded legacy typically required to be included in music canons (Reitsamer 2015;Withers , 2015a.…”

“…As puts it, documents and subjects have 'afterlives' -they can be important not only for what they achieve (or fail to achieve) at their time of creation, but for how they may be mobilised as a resource for thinking and action later on (Reitsamer 2015;Withers 2015a). That is, despite what generational metanarratives might imply, the ideas, values, practices and goals of feminists at any given time are varied and can traverse multiple eras (Withers 2015b).…”

“…That is, despite what generational metanarratives might imply, the ideas, values, practices and goals of feminists at any given time are varied and can traverse multiple eras (Withers 2015b). Archives, as accumulations of bits from the scrap heap, are spaces which draw together artefacts from different times, elucidate continuities with the past and foster dialogue and alliances between generations of feminists (Mitchell 2015;Reitsamer 2015;. In this way, the archive has the power to undo generational logics and promote new, fluid narratives of feminism (Reitsamer 2015;.…”