The Political Life of Documents: Archives, Memory and Contested Knowledge

Documents are powerful ‘artifacts of modern knowledge’ (Riles 2006: 5), ubiquitous in modern society. This conference aims to ask: How is access to documents that stockpile or conceal personal and collective ‘data’ being negotiated in the public sphere, and how are ideas of ‘the commons’ and ‘privacy’ being reconfigured in the process? Furthermore, how do such documents engage in political struggles, not just as tools of legitimacy, but as powerful affective focal points of outrage, nostalgia or apathy? Finally, speakers are invited to consider how academic analyses of such documents acts to reify, transform or place into public circulation such objects, perhaps with unintended, ethically complex consequences.
 

Delegate notice

Conference delegates can find information about accommodation in Cambridge at the following URLs:
http://www.visitcambridge.org/index.php
http://www.cambridgerooms.co.uk/
NB. CRASSH is not able to help with the booking of delegate accommodation.
 

Conference sponsors

The conference organisers are grateful to The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), The Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge.

Administrative assistance: Anna Malinowska (Conference Programme Manager, CRASSH)