An LGTBIQ + archival boom? Grassroot archival activism and memory politics in Latin America

The formation of LGTBIQ + community archives across Latin America has increased significantly recently, becoming vehicles for challenging cis-heteronormative narratives of the past and pushing the limits of democracy. This article asks how and since when did queer/trans archiving, curating, and displaying material become articulated as activism in Latin America? What are the cultural and political meanings of these practices, and how do these relate to a global community archival boom? To answer these questions, we mapped 55 LGTBIQ + community archives and developed a discourse analysis of their digital content. This analysis highlights references to memory as an active political process to critically engage with the past and disrupt the progress narratives of democratisation in the present. We argue that the Latin America case should be understood within the hybridisation of a global rise of archival activism and a shared grammar of using the past as a political tool.