Posts

PLEXUS#12. IAW2026 & SAGDAA

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It seems like a long time ago, but it was only about two months ago that SAGDAA participated in the ICA's International Archives Week ( IAW2026 ) with the proposal "Raising Our Voice" . In this webinar, held on June 12th, we learned more about the Barcelona Declaration  on LGBTQ+ Archives and Archivists, which the International Council of Archivists (ICA) signed last October. The first part of the webinar focused on its objectives and principles. It also traced the text's history, linking it to other similar ICA declarations, such as the 2011 Universal Declaration on Archives ( UDA ) and the 2019  Tandanya Declaration  on Indigenous Community Archives. The Barcelona Declaration continues its journey of dissemination and recognition, aiming to become a useful shared tool for laying the groundwork for the preservation and visibility of LGBTQ+ archives and the work carried out by so many people within and outside the community to protect them. In the second part of the w...

PLEXUS#11. Potencia Tortillera

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 Para celebrar marzo como el Mes de la Historia de las Mujeres, PLEXUS presta atención en esta ocasión al Archivo Digital de Potencia Tortillera (PT) en el 15º aniversario de su aparición. La iniciativa nace en 2011 en forma de blog de la mano de un grupo activista de lesbianas que trabaja de manera descentralizada desde diversos puntos de Argentina, encabezadas por Gabriela Adelstein, Valeria Flores, Canela Gaviria, María Luisa Peralta y Fabi Tron. PT se autodefine como archivo documental digitalizado del activismo lésbico, conformado por producciones gráficas y teóricas, registros fotográficos y sonoros, encuentros reflexivos y acciones callejeras de grupos y activistas lesbianas de diferentes momentos históricos, múltiples posiciones políticas y diversas geografías de Argentina. Está en permanente construcción, recibiendo nuevos aportes y colaboraciones [...]. Desde esta concepción. PT nos habla en su blog de la intención alumbrada en el momento de crear el archivo, mostrando ex...

PLEXUS#10. ICA Declaration on LGBTQ+ Archives and Archivists

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  After the Presidency statement  on LGBTQ+ archives in June 28th, 2024, and the webinar  to present the Working Group just one day before, the International Council on Archives (ICA) has taken a third step in the path of recognizing and valuing of the sex-affective and gender diversity (SAGD) archives and the archival professionals who identified as SAGD people. Last October, 30th, the institution presented the Declaration on LGBTQ+ Archives and Archivists  at the ICA Congress in Barcelona. The presentation concludes a consultation and text drafting process that has been ongoing for the past few months. The initial idea was conceived by Carlos Serrano Vásquez, ICA Secretary, as a way to put on value the work made by LGBTQ+ archives in the last decades, to normalize and visiblize the existence of LGBTQ+ community archives, as well as a call to institutional archives to look the collections they kept and the profession through a queer lens. This Declaration follows th...

PLEXUS#09. GALA, the rainbow archive of South Africa

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The GALA Queer Archive (GALA) is a catalyst for the production, preservation and dissemination about the history, culture ans contemporary expericences of LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa. The archive was established as a response to the continued erasure and omission of Sex-Affective and Gender Diversity (SAGD) community history from official museums and archives, even in the wave of new histories and heritage being celebrated and emphasised in post-apartheid 1990s South Africa. The name of the organization was previously known as The Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa, from were it got the acronym GALA. In 2007, tha name was changed to its present form. The institution was founded in 1997 as an offshoot of the South African History Archives (SAHA), created in 1988 by a group of anti-apartheid activists as a non-profit organization and a community archive closely connected to the United Democratic Front (UDF), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (CSATU) and the African Nat...

PLEXUS#08. IAW y los Archivos LGBTQ+ / IAW and the LGBTQ+ Archives

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 De nuevo llega el mes del Orgullo y, con él, el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Archivos y Archivistas de la Diversidad Afectiva, Sexual y de Género de ICA cumple su primer aniversario. Para celebrarlo os ofrecemos la reseña con las dos aportaciones sobre el tema que pudimos seguir en el ciclo de presentaciones y conferencias de ICA para la Semana Internacional de los Archivos entre el 9 y el 13 de junio. La primera aportación fue a cargo de Arcelia Paz-Padilla en el ciclo de conferencias relámpago  Inclusión y representación en las prácticas archivísticas  celebrado el pasado 10 de junio. Arcelia nos acercó a la realidad del Archivo Lesbiano Feminista Patlatonalli  que se conserva en la Universidad de Guadalajara (Jalisco, México). Con el título Entre lo privado y lo público: desafíos éticos en el acceso a los Archivos Lésbico-Feministas de Patlatonalli , Arcelia presentó brevemente el Archivo, que recoge la actividad de la asociación homónima, en funcionamiento en la capit...

PLEXUS#07. International Archives Week 2025

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 Are you prepared for the seventh edition of  ICA International Archives Week #IAW2025 ? Get ready for a week of webinars, lightning talks and workshops under the motto #ArchivesAreAccessible - Archives for Everyone. In her message to celebrate the International Day and Week of Archives, ICA President, Josée Kirps, states that "we celebrate archives not just as collections of documents, but as doorways to truth, memory and identity." Therefore, accessibility matters. "Archives are powerful and, open to all, they become a true force for justice, inclusion and connection". ICA has organized a list of lightning talks and webinars to celebrate #IAW2025. Here is a selection of those related to ICA-SAGDAA-WG topics. You can enjoy all of them for free; just  register for each meeting on #IAW 2025 website. The lightning talks have been classified in four categories: 01-Overcoming Barriers to Archive Access 02-Harnessing Technology to Enhance Access 03-Archives in Society: ...

PLEXUS#06. Europe's Day

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 May, 9th is the Day of Europe. We commemorate the Schumann's Declaration in pro of an European Union (EU) proclaimed in May, 9th, 1950. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Schumann's Declaration, today we look at the main LGBTQIA+ archives in Hungary, a European country where the rights of the LGBTQIA+ are specially in danger because of the attacks from the Government, lead by the far-right party Fidesz, since National Anti-LGBT Law was approved in 2021. This violation of Human Rigths is particularly serious given that Hungary has been a member of the EU since 2004. Recently the Parliament, controlled by Fidesz, has banned any kind of parade or public celebration of Pride in the country violating the protective legislation to the LGBTQIA+ community by the EU institutions.     Art installation in the Atrium of Justus Lipsius Building in Brussels during Hungary's European Council Presidency in the second semester of 2024 (EU) Háttér Society was founded in 1995 and is th...