Radical Histories: Exploring the Archives

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In May 2019, SWARM hosted a three day festival to celebrate ten years of organising. This included panel discussions across a wide range of topics that impact on sex workers, and which connect and intersect with sex worker rights organising as well as broader struggles for justice. The conversations and discussions from that festival lay the groundwork for the Decriminalised Futures project.

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Radical Histories: Exploring the Archives (May 2019)

Who writes history? Our panellists discussed the vital work of collecting radical histories, what this entails and how it can change our perception of both the past and present. Our panellists have archived histories of Black, LGBTQ and sex worker communities, centring those who are often side-lined by dominant narratives.

You’ll hear stories from the archives, learn how these hidden histories are gathered and leave with a renewed understanding of why we must challenge imperialist, heteronormative versions of our past.

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Speakers: Dr Kate Lister, Mumbi Nkonde, Morgan M Page, Jay Bernard, Itziar Bilbao Urrutia

Credits: composition and mix by Sherry Ostapovitch, edit by Tamara Schreiber and Radio Ava, recording by Hollis Robin.

Radical Histories: Exploring the Archives is the 10th panel discussion of the SWARM 2019 Festival of Resistance.

The topics included:

  • Imagining Feminist Futures

  • Radical Transfeminist Activism

  • Cops Don’t Keep Us Safe: When Survival Is Made Criminal

  • Sex Work and Migration in Europe

  • The Impact of Austerity

  • Sex Workers of Colour Roundtable

  • (Resisting) Systems of Violence

  • Sex Workers on the Nordic Model

  • Artists Talk Bodies, Visibility, and Violence

  • Radical Histories: Exploring the Archives

  • Aesthetics vs Ethics: Expanding Definitions of Feminist Porn

  • How Do Disability and Sex Work Intersect in the UK Today

  • The Future of Work

  • Technology, Surveillance and the State: How We Resist

  • Examining Anti-trafficking Measures: Academic Perspectives

  • Researching Sex Work

  • Strength, Resilience, and Healthcare

  • A Decriminalised Future

Year: 2019
Type: panel discussion
Series: swarm festival of resistance
Subject(s): history archives surveillance racism decriminalisation lgbtq+