In his essay ‘Ephemera as Evidence: Introductory Notes to Queer Acts’ (1996), José Esteban Muñoz considers the implications of the difficulty of assembling of, what he calls, ‘queer archives’ for the writing of LGBTI histories. He argues for a the importance of ‘ephemera’ – of ‘traces, glimmers, residues, and specks of things’ – in constituting multiple and mutable archives to the lived realities of LGBTI people. In this panel, we seek to explore these and other, related questions about assembling, keeping, and making accessible LGBTI archives and histories in both South Africa and the UK.   

The panel includes: Michele Pickover (Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand), Jabu Pereira (Iranti-org), Cynthia Kros (History Workshop, Wits City Institute), Matt Cook (Birkbeck, University of London), and Linda Chernis (GALA).  

Thursday, 15 September 5.30pm     

WiSER Seminar Room, 6th Floor, Richard Ward Building, East Campus, Wits University    

Refreshments will be served. RSVP sarah.duff@wits.ac.za