Berlin workshop on the construction and spaces for memory
On 15 and 16 July 2019, the Institute of Latin American Studies (LAI) attached to the German Freie Universität Berlin (FU) hosted researchers from Colombia, Germany, Spain, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador during the workshop entitled “Commemoration and Remembrance: Processes of construction of historical memory and legitimacy of the State”.
The workshop was coordinated by the CAPAZ Institute, the Research Group on Conflict and Peace at Universidad de Medellín, the LAI at FU Berlin with the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
The researchers presented their work around the theme of the workshop, discussed methodological aspects of studies on memory and addressed different case studies.
There was also scope for epistemological analysis of how memory is constructed, both by state institutions and by various social sectors, for which memory is a means of political struggle.
The workshop ended with a conversation with the German artist Horst Hoheisel, who presented some of his works in different countries around the world and motivated reflection on the idea of the counter-monument as an artistic form of fleeting remembrance that is not tied to a place.
The conversation and discussions allowed the group of participants to debate disputes over memory, not only in societies facing transition processes, but also in those where the very concept of memory is problematic because violence is still present.
(Text: Gabriel Ruiz – Universidad de Medellín/LAI. Revision: Claudia Maya. English version: Tiziana Laudato)