• Roger Casement’s Queer Archive

    Author(s):
    David Squires (see profile)
    Date:
    2017
    Group(s):
    CLCS Global Anglophone, LLC Irish, TC Postcolonial Studies, TC Sexuality Studies
    Subject(s):
    British territories and possessions, Ireland, History, Archives
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    archive, Queer, empire, postcolonial, Queer studies, Postcolonial studies, British empire, Irish history
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6DV1CN2W
    Abstract:
    Growing interest in the archive as an object of study for queer criticism justifies closer attention to the concept of provenance. For archivists, provenance imparts a fundamental measure of integrity to archival collections by certifying their origin and proper order. Record origin and order, however, rely on authorial identity to establish authenticity, placing provenance in tension with queer theories that describe subjectivity as polymorphous, not fixed. That tension leads Roger Casement’s official reports on the atrocities committed against rubber gatherers in South America to use provenance as a credible—rather than strictly authentic—narrative structure for publicizing British investigations of imperial violence. Recognizing provenance as a practice of representation invites reconsideration of Casement’s notorious private diaries, which document his sexual interest in large penises. Instead of simply providing evidence of homosexual identity, the diaries show how impersonal fantasy becomes a constituent part of archival practice.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2017.132.3.596
    Publisher:
    Modern Language Association (MLA)
    Pub. Date:
    2017-10-17
    Journal:
    PMLA
    Volume:
    132
    Issue:
    3
    Page Range:
    596 - 612
    ISSN:
    0030-8129
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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