An Archive of Feelings @ 20: An interview with Ann Cvetkovich

Abstract

Feminist and queer studies scholar Ann Cvetkovich’s trailblazing book An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures has had an immense influence on the field of memory studies, inspiring new bodies of scholarship on queerness, trauma, and memory. In this interview, Cvetkovich discusses the impact that some of the book’s central concepts have had on the field of memory studies over the last 20 years. Cvetkovich also reflects on the role that An Archive of Feelings has had in bringing affect into feminist and queer work on sexuality, intimacy, and everyday life. Furthermore, she reflects on another of her groundbreaking books, Depression: A Public Feeling, in which she applies queer cultural analysis to unusual archives and writes critical memoir in order to situate depression as an historical category. The interview closes with Cvetkovich’s reflections on her current work on queer Indigenous approaches to trauma.