This year’s annual meeting of the Society of American Archivist was tough for me. Although I upheld all of my scheduled obligations, I felt alienated, out-of-sorts, and generally unsettled. A sinus infection coupled with chronic health issues made it too difficult for me to participate in any educational sessions. MANY sessions drew my attention, but I found myself unable to absorb them or engage with the content in any meaningful way. So I gave myself permission to simply be in Austin, surrounded by family, friends, and places I love. In return, I promised myself that I would listen to the sessions I missed after SAA posted the recordings online.
This is my experiment – once a week, I will listen to a single SAA 2019 session, transcribe the recording to the best of my ability, and annotate the discussions with my commentary. I’ll keep it up as long as it feeds my spirit. For now, I plan to target about 25 sessions between now and March 2020. Each link will take you to a relevant blog post (as it is published), which will include a link to the original session recording.
Currently planned reviews
102 – Beyond Neutrality: Righting Wrongs and Striving Toward Representation
105 – Building a Community for a Community Archive: Perspectives and Strategies from the South Asian American Digital Archive Archivists’ Collective
203 – Transforming the Archive: Invasive Inclusivity through Language
205 – Revolutionizing Use Policies: Easing Resetrictions for Greater Impact
206 – SCOTUS Refocus: Advocacy for Judicial Papers
302 – No Repository, No Probelm: How Archivists Archive Without Walls
305- Recontextualizing and Demythologizing Archives” The Applications of Social Theories to the Archival Praxis
401 – No Ordinary Pain: Invisibly Labor and Trauma, Radical Empathy, and Self-Care in Archival Work
406 – Graduate Student Paper Session
501 – Invited Speaker: Ashley Farmer, PhD
502 – Young, Old, Seasoned, Green: Assessing Power Dynamics in Multigenerational Archives
503 – Beyond the Familiar Terms: Repairing Indigenous Collections through Inclusive Processing
505 – Collective Responsibility: Outcomes and Developments
508 – The New Internationalism: Broad Archival Ideologies and Local Paradigms
604 – Learning from the Local: The Teaching Archivist and Place-Based Education
608 – More Process, More Public: Enhancing the Value of Archives through Technical Services
609 – Standards for Sustainability: Ensuring Sustainable Programs with It Takes a Village
704 – Our Legacy Together: Transformation, Community, and Healing
707 – Cultivating a Post-Custodial Praxis: INsights from LLILAS Benson’s COmmunity of Colaboradores
708 – How Does it Really Work? Software Preservation and Emulation in the Archives
804 – Means of Production and Selection: Capitalist Frameworks in Archival Contexts
806 – The Coming Transformation of Declassification
807 – Transforming Archives through Acts of Repair
808 – Archivists Facing a Changing Climate
904 – How Can I Help? Providing Exceptional Service and Practicing the Ethics of Care in the Archives