A sensational reading from Alana Kumbier’s book, Ephemeral Material: Queering the Archive
Last night Alana Kumbier offered a riveting reading from her recently published, Ephemeral Material: Queering the Archive in a gently lit gallery space arranged with a podium, microphone, chairs, and refreshments just for the event. The author, Hampshire’s Critical Social Inquiry and Digital Pedagogy librarian, opted to not have copies of her book for sale at the event. She instead encouraged those wanting to learn more about her fabulous research into: the Drag King Coummunities from the Ground Up, the Collaborative Archive of Aliza Shapiro’s DATUM, the Watermelon Woman film, and haunting memories and history of Liebe Perla to ask their libraries to acquire a copy of this important theoretical framework for their collections. I would encourage you to do the same and hope that many local communities will have access to Kumbier’s important book through their libraries to explore the archiving that happens within, and outside of, institutional repositories. (I also wouldn’t hesitate to encourage you to grab a copy yourself, as it is a lively read, and has the absolute best cover art ever!)
And, so many thanks to the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center (FCWSRC) for hosting this wonderful event, and to Hampshire College Feminist Studies, the Queer Community Alliance Center, and the FCWSRC, for sponsoring the reception!