From memory to history: narratives and disputes around the Museo de Memoria de Colombia

• Grant number: 19/16095-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2022
• End date: July 25, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: João Felipe Ferreira Gonçalves
• Grantee: Julián David Cuaspa Ropaín
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project proposes an analysis of the practices and discourses related to the Museum of Memory of Colombia, located in Bogotá and dedicated to the representation of the armed conflict that has marked that country in recent decades. Through participant observation, interviews and archival research, this ethnography will address the perspectives of the main actors involved in the museum: state agents, officials, visitors and civil society organizations. Inserted in the field of the anthropology of history, as outlined by Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Stephan Palmié and Charles Stewart, this project primarily examines the uses and political effects of the term "memory" as a polysemic and disputed native category that plays a central role in the production of historical narratives in Colombia. An essential part of this proposal is the realization of an internship of six-month research abroad, with a BEPE grant. Examining a "memory museum" in a national context that - unlike other memorials in Latin America and the Caribbean - is still marked by the armed conflict, this study seeks to contribute to the understanding of broader themes, such as representations of history and political violence. (AU)