Memory Reimagined: Gender and Intersectionality in Participatory Memory Configuration

In the context of the Colombian peace process, this project undertakes an ethnographic exploration of a communitarian museum developed in cooperation between the Colombian National Museum and an organization of transgender activists in a marginalized neighbourhood of Bogotá.

Drawing lessons from this innovative collaboration, MEMORYREIMAGINED investigates the inclusion of gender and intersectionality in participatory initiatives of memory configuration.

In the outgoing phase of this fellowship, the ethnographic examination of this process of configuring participatory memory will explore the intersection of different forms of violence (armed, structural, gendered, and postcolonial violence) and will delve into the practices of resistance developed by this project.

In the return phase to the host institution, the applicability of the methodology examined in this project in an armed conflict-affected context will be explored in contexts of urban social conflict where intersectional violence and social stigmatization affect the everyday of marginalized populations.

Through the co-production of knowledge with participants in the project and the development of knowledge exchange with relevant stakeholders, MEMORYREIMAGINED is a form of applied ethnography that foregrounds marginalized memories and contributes to policy and practitioner knowledge of social engagement in memory institutions.

It further highlights the potential of memory initiatives to transform social inequality and reduce the continuation of entangled forms of violence.

This project advances the fields of feminist anthropology, peace and conflict studies and museum studies, nurturing the interdisciplinary field of memory studies.

The outcomes of this three-year project will serve as both precedent and toolkit for participatory approaches to memory configuration, bringing to European institutions and civil society innovative mechanisms for social inclusion and for the promotion of a culture of peace.