This City Is An Archive

Squatting History and Urban Authority

Bibliographic Data

ID8091617
AuthorsBurgum (0000-0002-4616-2094, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume48
Issue3
Pages504-522
Publication date2020-09-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Urban History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0096-1442 • E-ISSN: 1552-6771
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0096144220955165
OpenAlexW3085231114
LanguageEN
Citations received15

Since the archival turn, archives have been widely portrayed as “dominating” institutions, which has led to even community archives being defined as “anti-authority.” It is the contention of this paper that this approach misses (1) the way in which DIY archives provide territorial authority for marginalized communities, and (2) the radical potential of such counter-narratives in seeing the city itself as an archive. Outlining both the role of archival authority in community archives and the use of an archival imagination in approaching the city, the paper considers possibilities for urban movements and campaigns, bringing together examples from the Resistance Project, 56a Infoshop, Advisory Service for Squatters, Occupy London, and the Remembering Olive Collective. An approach is forwarded which, in light of the participatory turn in archival studies, reframes the city as an archive, to encourage attentiveness to authority and to produce a capacity to aspire

Business · Citizen journalism · Narrative · Political science · Resistance (ecology · Service (business · Sociology · Squatting position · Digital and Traditional Archives Management · Irish and British Studies · Law · Public Administration