Lunchtime Talk: (Un)Clear History: Queer Memory, Precarity, and Instagram as Counter-archive

The subject of this research is the use of Instagram as a space for archiving and memorialising LGBTQI+ histories. Instagram constitutes a curated personal archive for viewing by other users of the site. However, there are numerous examples of Instagram pages being used as community spaces which archive and memorialise a particular time, place, community or way of life. I will argue that these spaces are examples of counter-archives. Queer histories are inextricably linked with loss, and counter-archives operate as a site of “negotiation between memory and desire” as communities try to piece together some version of a shared past (Appadurai 23). I would like to examine these accounts as spaces for reminiscence, while considering the ramifications of Instagram’s policies in relation to privacy and decency and their potential impact on LGBTQI+ content. The primary output of this research will be an article for peer-reviewed publication.