Archiving Greer/Greer Archiving: Germaine Greer’s curatorial labour, feminist celebrity studies and archival methodologies

Abstract

This article draws upon my engagement with the archive of controversial Australian celebrity feminist Germaine Greer to think through the role of archival methodologies within the field of feminist celebrity studies, especially given that the archive itself is heavily implicated in processes of celebrification. Sold in 2013 for AU$3 million, Greer’s extensive archive – consisting of over 500 boxes filled with notes and drafts of various books, press clippings, research files, personal and professional letters, diaries, audio-visual material, and assorted ephemera – is now held by the University of Melbourne. Amongst other things, this acquisition enables a mapping of the wider cultural reverberations of Greer’s celebrity feminist persona, as well as Greer’s own pronounced role in its strategic cultivation – including in and through the archive. As I will argue, the Greer archive is part of the performative practice and renown-building labour in which all living celebrities engage – as well as itself being evidence of it. That is, the archive does not only provide insights into Greer’s fame or the affective investments of her fans, it is a form of renown maintenance and extension in and of itself, which can be figured as a feminist practice consistent with Greer’s own recuperative feminist scholarship. In light of the above, and drawing upon insights from critical archival studies, I will consider Greer’s own curatorial practices and how they seek to shape the way the archive is consumed, the uses to which it is being put, and the kind of ‘Greers’ it seeks (not necessarily with success) to render visible.