This workshop utilizes the methodology of (un)documenting to consider the following questions: How can the undocumented be documented? What are the ethical, political, and intellectual repercussions in doing so? How can places such as the university, libraries, the classroom, and research endeavors function as sites of support for undocumented activists, students, and community? How can scholars (un)document the privatization of knowledge and access to resources? This workshop delves into the methodological approach of (un)documenting immigrant and undocumented social movements, activism, and strategies of resistance as conceptualized by Dr. Rafael Martínez in his recently published book, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States. This method functions as a tool to produce counter archives, pushing against the norm of traditional academic methodologies and to center decolonial and anti-neoliberal process of knowledge creation. (Un)documenting as a methodology interrogates the process in which immigrant communities are illegalized by social constructions and political/legal systems. Placing at the center how undocumented activists utilized the act of documenting as a strategy to create alternative narratives to challenge the dehumanizing discourse which illegalize their lives. Instead as a method, (un)documenting creates the possibility to produce new social imaginaries. Join us as Dr. Martinez provides a discussion and workshop on this critical methodology.

This workshop is geared towards students, community members, and community-centered intellectuals. The invitation to participate is further extended to oral historians, archivists, and social movement scholars who aim to propel creative and alternative methodologies grounded in creating networks of support.

The goals of this workshop are to:

1. Explore Dr. Rafael Martinez’s methodology of (un)documenting;
2. Engage (un)documenting as a critical methodological tool to employ in university archives, libraries, oral history projects, and research protocols;
3. Create a critical dialogue on amplifying spaces for undocumented communities to produce creative intellectual projects for knowledge production and resource sharing.

This workshop is brought to you by the Department of Chicana/o Studies, the Department of American Studies, El Centro de la Raza, New Mexico Humanities Now Mellon Initiative, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and University Libraries.