Joyce Gabiola
Unaffiliated
“We cannot continue to disregard/erase past and current atrocities. We cannot dismiss the more difficult conversations/actions toward change. We cannot truly value 'diversity' without working to decenter whiteness, and without antiracist/anti-oppressive action, our collective efforts remain merely performative.”
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Co-Facilitator/Archivist, Asian American/Pacific Islander Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (AAPI LGBTQ+) Archiving Collective (L.A.).
- Navigate my "community member"/"institutional interloper" position as a queer Filipinx American archivist/researcher.
- Assistant Researcher, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Navigate my "insider"/"outsider" position as a queer Filipinx American researcher.
- Archives Assistant, Boston University, Archival Research Center.[1]
- Preservation Assistant, MIT, Curation & Preservation Services.[2]
- Plans Intern, Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation.[3]
- Records Management Associate, Williams Lea.[4]
EDUCATION
- PhD coursework, Information Studies, UCLA
- MS, Library and Information Science (Archives Management), Simmons University
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- Society of American Archivists: Program Committee, Co-Chair (2018–2019): Applied antiracist/anti-oppressive lens to create a conference environment that reduces incidents of harm for historically marginalized attendees; Recommended SAA hire consultants to create a conference environment accessible for attendees who identify within the LGBTQ+ community and those who are highly sensitive to chemicals or fragrances; Recommended SAA offer complimentary registration to attendees who identify within the LGBTQ+ community and/or were impacted by a travel ban that prohibits employees from using state funds to travel to Texas because of its anti-LGBT laws; Recommended SAA add a required field on the registration form for pronouns to reduce incidents of misgendering; Created a program that prominently featured people of color on stage to share their expertise/work; Recommended speakers: Mia Mingus, self-identified as queer, disabled, Korean adoptee, writer, and disability and transformative justice educator; Tourmaline, a trans, Black filmmaker, writer, activist; Dr. Ashley Farmer, author of “Archiving While Black”; Gabriel Solis, executive director of the Texas After Violence Project; and Alok Vaid-Menon, a nonbinary performance artist, writer, educator; Encouraged committee to rate proposals by considering power dynamics, the vulnerability/courage of some speakers, historically erased voices. Member (2015–present): Hold intellectual and physical space as a queer, nonbinary person of color in an overwhelmingly cis, white organization; Collaborate with BIPOC to navigate predominantly oppressive archival spaces; Sections: Archivists & Archives of Color, Diverse Sexuality & Gender, Archival Educators.
- Association for Asian American Studies: Member (2018–2019): Advocated for AAAS to make the new archivist role a board member for voting power.
- Others: Los Angeles Archives Collective, Archivists of the Houston Area.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Joyce Gabiola. “On (En)countering the Archival Sidekick.” In Q&A 2.0: Queer in Asian America, eds. Kale B. Fajardo, Alice Y. Hom, and Martin F. Manalansan (Temple University Press, forthcoming).
- Michelle Caswell, Joyce Gabiola, et al. "Accountability to the Future: On History Not Repeating Itself." In Defining a Discipline: Archival Research and Practice in the 21st Century—Essays in Honor of Richard J. Cox, eds. Jeannette A. Bastian and Elizabeth Yakel (Society of American Archivists, forthcoming).
- Gracen Brilmyer, Joyce Gabiola, et al. "Reciprocal Archival Imaginaries: The Shifting Boundaries of ‘Community’ in Community Archives," Archivaria 88 (Fall 2019).
- Jessica Tai, Jimmy Zavala, Joyce Gabiola, et al. "Summoning the Ghosts: Records As Agents in Community Archives," Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 6, no. 18 (2019).
- Michelle Caswell, Joyce Gabiola, et al. "Imagining Transformative Spaces: The Personal-Political Sites of Community Archives." Archival Science 18, no. 1 (2018): 73-93.
- Joyce Gabiola, Michelle Caswell. "’Are You a Spy?’: Methodological Challenges to Studying Community Archives." SAA Research Forum Proceedings (2017).
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
- Courtney Dean, Jennifer Ferretti, Joyce Gabiola, Maggie Hughes, Shira Peltzman, Karly Wildenhaus. "Community Building: Exploitative Labor Practices in Libraries and Archives," Digital Library Federation Forum, 2018.
- Joyce Gabiola. "Community Archives and Internalized Symbolic Annihilation," Transforming Knowledge/Transforming Libraries event, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
- Crystal Baik, Joyce Gabiola, Alice Y. Hom, MLin, Eric Wat. "Beyond Survival, Toward Resistance & Alliance Building: The Making of Queer and Trans of Color Activist Archives," Association for Asian American Studies Conference, 2018.
- Joyce Gabiola. "On the Right to be Forgotten: Internalized Symbolic Annihilation," National Forum on Ethics and Archiving the Web, 2018, https://vimeo.com/281459704.
- Anne Ackerson, Joyce Gabiola, Helen Wong Smith, Kristopher Stenson. "Next Generation Leadership and the Future of Archives," Society of American Archivists, 2016.
QUESTION POSED BY NOMINATING COMMITTEE
SAA is a consortium of diverse individuals and communities facing diverse concerns on the future of the profession in the 21st century. As President, what will be your key themes to ensure that SAA meets the needs of a changing community addressing a wide range of concerns and topics, including technology, diversity/equity/inclusion, labor equity, and climate change, while upholding SAA's Core Values?
CANDIDATE’S RESPONSE
The “themes” that will drive my presidency are those at the core of what I already do and what I understand is imperative for archives or (ethical) preservation/access to records: decentering whiteness and antiracist/anti-oppressive action.
In order for us to uphold SAA’s core values and address concerns about technology, diversity/equity/inclusion, labor equity, and climate change, we must address the ugliness that thrives at the root of our systems of doing—white supremacy. We cannot continue to disregard/erase past and current atrocities. We cannot dismiss the more difficult conversations/actions toward change. We cannot truly value “diversity” without working to decenter whiteness, and without antiracist/anti-oppressive action, our collective efforts remain merely performative. In collaboration with SAA staff and the Council, I will address the concerns of our changing community, guide our business and membership functions, and support your archival endeavors. However, the difference I bring to the (structurally unviable) table is evident in my intentional antiracist/anti-oppressive actions.
[1] Navigate power dynamics, microaggressions.
[2] Navigate power dynamics, microaggressions.
[3] Navigate power dynamics, microaggressions.
[4] Navigate power dynamics, microaggressions.
2020 ELECTION HOME
