Cecilia Malnis
Based on archival research and oral history interviews with lesbian activists in Argentina, this article argues that lesbian memory work exceeds the preservation of documents and instead emerges through situated practices of circulation, recognition, and narration. The article reconceptualizes archives as grassroots epistemic infrastructures by showing that archival work, as a constitutive dimension of collective action, is not a secondary activity that follows political mobilization. Rather, it is a political practice through which activists produce historical authority and temporal belonging, foster continuity across generations, and negotiate the conditions under which lesbian lives become historically knowable. The article shows that the marginalization of lesbian histories in Argentina cannot be explained simply by archival absence. Instead, the central challenge lies in the uneven accessibility of memory across territories and social worlds, as archival initiatives have been concentrated primarily in large urban centers, especially Buenos Aires. It further demonstrates that the fragmented geography of lesbian archives-including personal collections, grassroots libraries, activist publications, oral history initiatives, and the Dyke Power Archive (Archivo de Potencia Tortillera)-reflects not only political commitments to decentralized memory but also territorial inequalities, limited funding, and the precarious conditions of self-managed archival work. The article further examines the productive tension between activism and academia, showing how activists simultaneously challenge academic authority while strategically engaging with universities and researchers to secure visibility, resources, and historical legitimacy. Within this broader relationship between activism and knowledge production, oral history emerges not merely as a method for recovering marginalized voices but as a performative archival practice that helps fill archival gaps by documenting the experiences and testimonies of lesbians across different territories. In doing so, it participates in the production of historical subjects and expands what comes to count as part of the national record.