Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 2019
Abstract
This paper presents the concept of the living archive as a system which reflects how social behavior and cultural production are part of the Anthropocene. The authors explore how dominant narratives of both the Anthropocene and the archive work to consolidate power and maintain cultural and disciplinary divisions. The authors refute conceptions of the Anthropocene as a purely biophysical phenomenon that is alienated from cultural practice and of the archive as a comprehensive and nostalgic space. They then introduce the living archive as an alternative representational, creative, and reactive space and illustrate how the living archive can intervene in ecological reality. Finally, the authors explore how the concept of the living archive is enacted and invok ed by the practices of the Interference Archive, an independent community archive in Brooklyn, New York.
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Comments
This is an open access article that will be published in Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, Vol 2, no. 3 (2019): Libraries and Archives in the Anthropocene https://journals.litwinbooks.com/index.php/jclis/article/view/96