Spanglish Archivist Manifesto

@masterraalkivictorieux Master Ra’al Ki Victorieux

There’s an organization of Spanglish Archivist, and if you visit their website, you can read their Manifesto. This content is a declaration of principles and values for a group of archivists and cultural managers, focusing on Latin American communities and their diaspora. It emphasizes the importance of language, the decolonization of narratives, solidarity, and equity. Additionally, it recognizes the complexities of race, social class, gender identity, and colorism in both Latin America and the United States, and commits to incorporating anti-oppressive practices and challenging traditional hierarchical structures. The declaration also rejects the appropriation, objectification, and exploitation of individuals’ and communities’ stories and identities.

Manifesto

1. Made by us and for us. We believe in the power and self-determination of our stories, identities, and memories. Our communities are the holders of knowledge.
2. We recognize that language is a product of a country’s history, geography, and politics. We recognize language as a fluid entity, informed and transformed by migrations and intersections between our identities and histories. We honor the multitude of languages, dialects, and native languages, beyond English and Spanish, spoken in the Americas.
3. We believe in the potential that archives have as spaces of resistance, experimental and radical in their modality, as places to promote the mobilization of our communities.
4. We seek to build spaces focused on transnational and equitable solidarity both in Latin America and in Latin American communities in the United States. We recognize the importance of decentralizing the dominant narrative that starts from a lens focused on narratives from Europe and the US.
5. We seek to create support networks to enhance resources from the North to the South and vice versa.
6. First and foremost, we seek to leverage the privilege we have as archivists and cultural managers through the creation, collection, and distribution of archival resources in our languages ​​and amplify the work that is happening in our communities and beyond.
7. We recognize the complexities around race, social class, gender identity, and colorism in Latin America and the United States. Given the multitude of identities represented within the Archivist in Espanglish membership, we understand that both contexts are not the same, nor is one more valid than the other. Likewise, we recognize that the legacy of colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and heteronormativity has silenced our communities, especially women, indigenous, Afro-descendant and LGBTQ groups. We hope that despite these complexities we can sustain our space and thus continue a transnational dialogue while building collaborations focused on equity.
8. While we are not an all-female collective, we honor the fact that it was founded by women, considering that women’s contributions, including emotional labor, have historically been erased from our history, including in the archival profession.
9. We are committed to incorporating anti-oppressive practices into our work and disrupting and challenging existing hierarchies and traditional ways of working in an archive.
10. We reject the appropriation, reification, and exploitation of the stories and identities of individuals and communities.

My experience as creator or multidisciplinary projects based on investigation and archives

The research and documentation processes to nurture creative projects have been a constant throughout more than three decades in my career as an art teacher, visual artist, writer, human rights activist, and multidisciplinary creator. Currently, I have a personal collection of more than 3 thousand documents, closely linked to professional results: More than 20 published books, numerous The research and documentation processes to nurture creative projects have been a constant throughout more than three decades in my career as an art teacher, visual artist, writer, human rights activist, and multidisciplinary creator. Currently, I have a personal collection of more than 3 thousand documents, closely linked to professional results: More than 20 published books, numerous individual and collective exhibitions, national and international, individual and collective exhibitions, etc.

My ancestry is mestizo, the result of migrations and language crossings, which gives a multicultural character to my life and work. Some of my publications are translated into English. In the area of ​​music, my compositions include texts in Sanskrit, Latin, and native languages.

Being a single woman, I find difficult to inventory, conserve, and move from one house to another with a collection of more than 3 thousand specimens. However, I believe in the power of my life stories, memory, and identity that I have been building throughout my professional evolution. I consider that my heritage is a seed of knowledge, that while I have worked it has nourished my work, one day I will be able to leave it as a legacy to inspire the work of others. My archive is an example of personal resilience and a radical space of self-esteem and creation.

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