A Reflection on Decolonizing Practices of Thinking and Doing In and Out of the Archive

Since 2010, the Decolonizing Sexualities Network (DSN) has sought to bring together and connect a range of experiences of working on the diverse ways in which sexualities can converge with religious and racial identities to produce multiple exclusions and socio-economic disadvantage as well as political marginalization. As DSN coordinators, Suhraiya Jivraj, Sandeep Bakshi and I have initiated online activities and exchanges, academic/activist events, and publishing ventures. With the aid of an AHRC Networking grant and other small funding, we were able to formalize the project as the Decolonizing Sexualities Network and continue to work collectively across locations. Activities have focused on mapping urgent questions in our local contexts, looking to facilitate transnational queer people of colour (QPOC) conversations across the Global South and Europe. We have also placed emphasis on the production of critical knowledge that offers alternative perspectives that dominate the western Eurocentric canon and disseminate decolonial thinking and doing through our communities. In this paper, I reflect on the role of digital platforms in the history of DSN activities and on decolonizing practices of thinking and doing in and out of the (digital) archive.