EdJAM Launch 2021 - Event #3 MEMORY

Theme: Justice and Memory

Professor Matthew Brown hosts a conversation on memory with Professors Elizabeth Jelin and María Emma Wills Obregón and Dr Goya Wilson Vasquez. Chaired by Maria-Teresa Pinto Ocampo.

Memories about violence and injustice are multiple, struggled over and often very different from official narratives of the past that circulate in history books and classrooms. Memory can also be productive and pedagogical, offering potential to intervene in educational spaces and to challenge or shape transitional justice processes.

With a focus on social movements, gender and memory production by those affected by violent conflict, the relationship between history and memory, transitional justice and the pedagogical possibilities of memory, the panellists share their experiences, research and questions about memory.

Professor Elizabeth Jelin is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at CONICET (National Council of Scientific Research) and IDES (Economic and Social Development Institute) in Argentina and a member of EdJAM’s Advisory Board. She is a leading theorist of memory in Latin America, having worked closely with social movements for many years. Elizabeth is author of many books including La Lucha Por el Pasado: Como Construimos la Memoria Social. An essential anthology of her work was recently published by CLASCO.

Professor María Emma Wills Obregón is a visiting professor at Universidad de los Andes. For many years she led the pedagogy programming at Colombia’s National Centre for Historical Memory and she has written about historical memory as pedagogy.

Dr. Goya Wilson Vasquez is a lecturer in the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University of Bristol. Her work focuses on memory and political violence in Latin America, where she has led creative and narrative based projects, including peace festival projects that create space for dialogue and memory making between activists and artists.

Professor Matthew Brown is Professor of Latin American History at the University of Bristol and Chair of the EdJAM Advisory Board. Together with colleagues at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Matthew leads the MEMPAZ project, which explores creative memory processes in communities marginalised by conflict in Colombia.