New Academic Director at the Queer Archive

She comes from the position of project coordinator at the SAMLA infrastructure project.

- I had followed the Queer Archive for a while. The combination of new collection, documentation and intake of older archive material is right at the core of my field of interest, she says.

Strengthening

The appointment of Grønstad as the new Academic Director is a strengthening of the research environment at the Queer Archive. Grønstad is a cultural scientist with a PhD from the University of Bergen and has conducted research on gender and the changing of surnames in couples particularly.

From the past to the present

- When the Queer Archive documents daily life through video interviews and the collection of written anonymous narratives and makes this available for posterity alongside older archive collections from individuals and organisations, lines can be drawn from the past to the present, she adds.

Dr. Førre Grønstad also says that the members of staff at the archive appeared to be particularly skilled and that she has had that impression confirmed in the weeks she has been in the position.

SAMLA

Her background from SAMLA is perfect for the work at the Queer Archive. SAMLA aims to preserve and digitize the source material of the large cultural and historical traditional archives: Norwegian Collection of Cultural Heritage (University of Oslo), Norwegian Ethnological Survey (Norwegian Folk Museum) and Ethno-folkloristic archive (University of Bergen). (www.samla.no.)

Professional archive work

- 2022 has been a very active year for the Queer Archive, and in the short term I envision that in 2023 we will have peace of mind to focus on the contents of our archive. The content must of course be made available and published when possible. Furthermore, I am concerned that there is much we have not yet been able to collect. For example, we would like to have more archive material and stories from organizations and people with minority backgrounds or disabilities, in general from those who stand out from the majority population in more ways than just being queer.

Dr. Line Førre Grønstad also has a background in the gender research environment at the University of Bergen, where she still works with surname choice in couples. In December 2020, she defended her doctoral thesis on men's choice of surname in relationships. Now she is expanding her research with a queer and international perspective.