The Program in Latin America, Caribbean and Latinx Studies is pleased to share

the Call for Papers for a Graduate Conference entitled Unraveling the Archive, scheduled for April 11-12, 2025 at JHU. 

Unraveling the Archive

Archives are valuable sites of memory and knowledge, as well as sites of violence and power. In a hyper-saturated world of post-truth and fake news, archives provide a powerful tool to understand the past, interpret the present and imagine better futures. Following Walter Benjamin’s saying, scholars have a responsibility to “brush history against the grain” when delving into archival documents, to find what is absent or hidden and make it speak again. This conference presents scholars with the opportunity to explore various questions that arise when facing archives as dynamic sites of memory: How do we challenge and deal with archives as sites of power? How can queer and marginal subjects be found or salvaged in archives that erase their presence? What practices and procedures are the most effective in dealing with archival documents? How should scholars proceed in filling out and reconstructing absences and holes in the archive? What are the implications of living archives? How can scholars interact with and preserve them?

They encourage proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

CHALLENGING THE ARCHIVE

They welcome submissions exploring new ways to think archival practices and seek to liberate archival research from colonial and epistemic violence.

QUEERING THE ARCHIVE

They seek contributions focusing on salvaging queer and marginal subjects from archival documents.

FACING THE ARCHIVE

They encourage proposals that explore practical matters and issues concerning archival research.

UNCOVERING THE ARCHIVE

They seek proposals dealing with absences and holes in the archive, as well as exploring ways to reconstruct the missing and uncover the hidden.

LIVING ARCHIVE

They invite submissions considering different sites of knowledge and memory as living archives and their implications.

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Featuring Javier Guerrero (Professor of Spanish & Portuguese, Princeton University) as keynote speaker.

For submissions, please complete the following form before the deadline on January 31st, 2025. They accept submissions for virtual and in-person presentations. They seek submissions in English, Spanish or Portuguese: https://forms.gle/s1WMNeMmhZgY5kqG7 

Co-sponsored by the Spanish & Portuguese Department, LACLxS, and Virginia Fox Stern Center.