This site is inspired by the idea that the archive is a powerful tool of resistance and dissent. Archives can either serve to silence (Trouillot 1995) or to give voice and visibility to that which has been erased. We are inspired by scholars in the social sciences and humanities, as well as artists and activists who have written about how the archive, both in its content and form, can bring into existence and re-narrate voices, stories, and experiences that have been omitted through epistemic, bodily, and material violence. We see this digital platform as the beginnings of a generative and dynamic archival universe. The pieces featured do not showcase primary source documents in the conventional sense--rather they reflect student interpretations and analyses of collectives, movements, initiatives, and people who have participated in important forms of social transformation. The pieces also feature students' own creative and visual expressions and responses to such collectives and movements. The pieces do not reflect all student projects completed in the Migrant Women's Political Activism course; they only reflect those that students have consented to have featured on the website.

Archives are dynamic spaces that do not have to be limited to the confines of buildings or digital platforms. While this first iteration of our archive is housed in a more conventional website, we will be thinking together in future classes about how to create a more interactive platform that makes the archive a more publicly accessible space for dialogue and a tool for reimagining new futures together.

References:
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 1995. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. MA: Beacon Press.