Drawing on five years of ethnographic fieldwork, our discussion will be organized around four interconnected threads. First, the political practices of memory care: who curates memory, who decides what is remembered, and under what conditions. Second, uses of the past in hybrid conflict contexts, where official, community-based and/or activist narratives coexist in permanent tension. Third, memory activism as a form of political and intimate agency in societies where transitional processes remain unresolved. Fourth, the role of religion as both a framework for social cohesion and a site of difference in the construction of collective cultural identity. We will take the Salón del Nunca Más of Granada, Colombia, as a point of entry for broader questions about the conflictual role of memory in communities navigating violence and resistance practices.   

Andrés Chaur is a PhD researcher in Humanities and Social Sciences at Université Paris 8 and Universidad Nacional de Colombia, currently a Visiting PhD Scholar at Aarhus University. His work sits at the intersection of Memory Studies, Cultural Analysis and political communication, with a particular focus on the role of difference and social cohesion in transitional contexts. Alongside his research, he has held professional roles at FAO and IOM – UN Migration, working on knowledge management and communication in international development contexts.