1935–2010s: (Archiving as Citizenship and the Transnational Feminist Archive — Mimi Sheller’s Framework of Citizenship as Intertwined Practices for Defining …

1935–2010s: (Archiving as Citizenship and the Transnational Feminist Archive — Mimi Sheller’s Framework of Citizenship as Intertwined Practices for Defining Who Can Occupy Public Space Speak in Public Bear Arms and Vote Extended to Ask Who Was Empowered to Archive the Moment, Black Women’s Archival Record Stored in the Inside Seams of Dresses Tucked in Treasured Books Marked by Knotted Cords Braided into Hair or Sewn into a Family Quilt, La Voix des Femmes Shipped to Women in the United States France and the Belgian Congo, Dozens of Self-Published Feminist Essays Stored in Worn File Cabinets and Under-the-Bed Libraries, Memories Patiently Stowed Away in Community Centers Across the Diaspora, Tina Campt’s “Future Real Conditional” — Their Practice Was an Attachment to a Belief in What Should Be True): Women’s citizenship belonging can be sited through their archival capacity, allowances, and methods — reinforcing what Mimi Sheller offers, that citizenship is a set of intertwined practices for defining who can occupy public space, who can speak in public, who can bear arms, who can vote, and who was empowered to archive the moment. These capacities are not always traceable in traditional archives: Black women’s archival record reminds us that these histories are often stored in the inside seams of dresses, tucked in treasured books, marked by knotted cords, braided into hair, or sewn into a family quilt. As a transnational practice, Haitian women saved materials in the diaspora, and other women documented the nation for those who were away. From the issues of La Voix des Femmes shipped to women in the United States, France, and the Belgian Congo, to dozens of self-published feminist essays stored in worn file cabinets and under-the-bed libraries, to the memories patiently stowed away in community centers across the diaspora, Haitian women located one another and preserved each other’s presence. Women captured images, words, sounds, and feelings for the next generation of political wayfarers who might request direction. Their archival practice made space for their belonging, charted women’s desires, and offered a curriculum for what Tina Campt calls a “future real conditional” — their practice was an attachment to a belief in what should be true. Sanders Johnson thinks with the feminist archive as anthropologist Deborah Thomas suggests: archiving becomes less the development of a list of bounded traits and more an articulation of processes that both constrain and open up the range of futures possible at any given moment.