Daniela Meneses Sala

PhD thesis title: Contemporary Peruvian Feminism: A Queer Photographic Archive of Feelings

In a context where feminist activism is gaining popularity and seeing new forms of embodiment in Latin America, I propose to investigate what can we learn about contemporary Peruvian feminist activism and its struggles if we start from a photographic archive of feelings. I will do this by first working with feminist activists to create a photographic archive of affectively charged ephemera (such as personal correspondence or gestures), and then exploring what this bottom-up approach can do for our efforts to conceptualise feminist activists and activism. Crucially, I understand affect not as something to be found merely ‘inside’ activists, but as something relational and embedded in prevailing structures of inequality.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?
I am interested in making an intervention in feminist studies, particularly in the context of Peru and Latin America. Rather than approaching the field through westernised ideas and ideals of what feminist activism looks like, I propose, through the creation of a queer archive, a ‘bottom-up’ approach that will allow me to explore how feminist activism is being affectively experienced on the ground. By turning to feelings, and their politics, I offer a different entry point to explore important feminist issues such as intersectionality and postcolonial studies.