Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 68

overs, and also digital and media arts—all forms of non-violent creative
disruption that galvanize different groups against misogyny, homophobia,
and racism.
For example, the Global Women’s March (January ��, ����) offered such a
participatory space and creative expression against the Trump administration.
People paraded and reclaimed streets across cities globally to challenge
this new threat to women’s human rights. Much has been written on the
March in comparison to earlier civil rights movements and their creative
methods of resistance. Consequently, the Society of American Archivists,
Women Archivists Section (WArS) has begun work on “Women’s March on
Washington Archives Project”, a global participatory project led by archivists
to evidence and capture the events of January ��, ����. The aim is to build a
digital resource that enables the sharing of documentation towards a wider
programme in feminist education (a method of “teaching to transgress”, to
quote bell hooks, ����, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of
Freedom. London; NY: Routledge). A key distinctiveness in our assertion
of voice is the potential of digital feminisms for connectivity. The archive
will be a huge achievement in terms of global feminist archiving—likely the
largest ever undertaken.
Criticisms were directed at the March for its seeming lack of specific action.
Yet, like all performative spaces and moments, immediate policy change was
an unrealistic objective. The March was a moment of temporary disruption
that brought together many voices all directed at a primary threat to freedom
and rights. These voices found a collective space of belonging during the
Global March.
Participatory practices are not without their challenges. Such practice comes
with a promise of empowerment and emancipation; this must be worked
through with one eye on Utopia and the other on restrictive institutional
structures culpable of silencing. Creative participatory resistance has the
best chance of ensuring voices are heard, and action is taken.
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