Often archives are thought of as static and decided – holding the material of our past, and ordering our collective histories. But archives are never done, never decided. Archives are speculative.
Archives always contain gaps and breaks that archivists and writers read into and imagine beyond. Work by artists and writers such as Black Quantum Futurism, Juliet Jacques, and Shola Von Reinhold shows how queer and anticolonial practices can reimagine history and make new futures through archival research.
Join us for a series of archival and writing workshops; you can come to one or all three sessions. Participants will have the chance to investigate Tower Hamlets Local History and MayDay Rooms archives, working with selected materials to reimagine and reconstruct histories, and using creative writing practices to make your own speculative fictions and radical counter-realities.
Hosted by archivists and organisers from Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives and MayDay Rooms, and writers and lecturers from Queen Mary University of London, workshops will focus on the history of activism and community organising in East London, and how this material holds the seeds of futures yet to be written.
Schedule:
Workshop 1, Wednesday 8th May, 6-8pm
Meet the archives: Introduction to Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives by archivist Sanjida Alam. Learn about archives and archival methodologies, and participate in a Q&A about speculative fiction with Sanjida, Nisha Ramayya (QMUL) and Zara Dinnen (QMUL).
Workshop 2, Saturday 18th May, 1-4pm
Narrating the archives: A guided session in which we’ll encounter materials from the archives and work with them using a combination of archival methodologies and creative writing practices.
Workshop 3, Saturday 1st June, 1-4pm
Speculative futures: We’ll head into the future - any number of possible futures! - and build on archival methodologies and creative writing practices to make new worlds. We’ll share what we have written and put together our own archive from the workshops.
Location: Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, 277 Bancroft Rd, Bethnal Green, London E1 4DQ
'Uncovering the Archive' is free a programme for young people (18-25) on archives and archiving developed by MayDay Rooms in collaboration with other radical spaces, groups and people in London!
For all events we provide snacks, refreshments and travel reimbursement of up to £5 if you need it to make it easier for you to attend!