Truth on the Margins: Bringing Memories to Support Transitional Justice in Colombia

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: School of Modern Languages

Abstract

The implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia has suffered setbacks during the last two years. Our project partners in MEMPAZ have witnessed rising levels of violence and insecurity.

The Truth Commission (TC, running 2018-21) is one of the strongest pillars of the processes of truth, recognition, justice and non-repetition at the heart of the Peace Agreement. Despite funding cuts and other disruptions, the TC is committed to producing an inclusive report of the horrors of war. This will be published in late 2021. Through MEMPAZ we have been privileged to work directly with its Gender and Pedagogy Working Groups, designing methodologies, collecting testimonies and supporting work with teachers and students. TOJEM will take advantage of a unique moment to support the Truth Commission and the other institutions of transitional justice to produce national recognition and international support for their work.

We will work with our project partners, each of whom have produced creative memory pieces, to disseminate their work in film, text and through public meetings so that it reaches wider publics and changes minds about the past (and ongoing) horrors so as to transform the future. TOJEM provides a new opportunity to seek impact at different scales, including nationally and internationally. It has been designed in collaboration with our colleagues at the National University of Colombia and the Truth Commission to reduce violence in the future, to bring about inclusive reconciliation and to reduce inequalities.
 
Title El Arte no se rinde carajo 
Description This exhibition in Cali, Colombia, in May 2022, brought together artworks produced by the MEMPAZ partners, and displayed them in the centre of a popular neighbourhood. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact People came together and talked about the armed conflict, contemporary politics and the diversity of Colombia's history and future. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VyjQaU2IbA
 
Title Entre memorias e historias Podcast 
Description Eight 45 minute episodes of a podcast, Entre Memorias e Historias, released on Spotify, Youtube, itunes and so on, discussing themes of history, memory and politics. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact It has built networks between the NGO Rodeemos el Dialogo, the PI and presenter Professor Matthew Brown, and the interviewees from around Colombia. 
URL https://anchor.fm/red-podcast
 
Title MEMPAZ Old Market Assembly Gig 
Description Participants in MEMPAZ joined with local musicians Luisa Santiago and band for this incredible one-night only performance at the Old Market Assembly in Bristol. Over 200 people danced, sang and shared memories. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact This event brought people together to talk about memory and reconciliation. It resulted in new attendees going to other MEMPAZ events, and learning about the other aspects of the project and Colombian history. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C08nZO1wF0
 
Title Musica para el alma 
Description 5 songs about reconciliation, produced in Valledupar, Colombia as part of the MEMPAZ project. Available online, on CD and on memory sticks distributed in Colombia. 
Type Of Art Composition/Score 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact Sharing music makes the world a better place. 
URL https://soundcloud.com/mempaz/01-reconciliacion-paseo-autor?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshar...
 
Title Sonidos y Saberes de la Reconciliación Translated title of the contribution: Sounds and Flavours of Reconciliation 
Description This is an amazing bilingual comic book telling the stories of our partners on the project. One, with beautiful and compelling graphic illustrations, tells the story of using food and cooking to achieve reconciliation in societies in damaged by armed conflict. The other narrates the production of music by survivors of the armed conflict, writing and performing songs around the theme of reconciliation. Do click on the link - it is a beautiful piece of work. 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact Our participant organizations in Colombia told us that they had been re-energized by this project. People listening to the music have been motivated to seek out moments of reconciliation in their own lives. 
URL https://mempaz.com/resources/default/SSR_completo-min.pdf
 
Title Ungunamuse 
Description This was an exhibition of the images from the photobook produced by Colectivo Arhuaco de Comunicaciones, detailing the construction of the Indigenous Library in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. The exhibition was held at Bristol City Council chambers on 22-24 March 2023. The launch event was attended by 50 people, and another 150 people attended during the week. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact These are detailed by our Arhuaco partners in the book. It strengthened the skills and capacity of young Arhuaco creative producers, facilitating new collaborations and building a greater sense of belonging, history and community. It is a beautiful piece of work - do click on the link and look at it. Participants who attended the exhibition said that it gave them insight into a different worldview. Several participants got in touch asking to visit the library in real life. 
URL https://mempaz.com/resources/default/Libro-Ungunamuse-min.pdf
 
Description The process of establishing the truth about the armed conflict in Colombia is not an easy one. Our partners, involved in the production of historical memory among the country's most marginalized communities, are under considerable stress and have many obstacles to overcome. Our project, working together in horizontal ways with a strong ethics of co-production, has had a major impact of which we are very proud. International collaboration with the implementation of the peace accords in Colombia was welcomed by our partners, We worked directly with the Truth Commission in Colombia, and our work was woven into their final report, published in July 2022. Through 2022-2023 were were able to disseminate our findings and outputs in Colombia, the UK and globally through our website mempaz.com. We have demonstrated that marginalized peoples have been able to produce work that reveals the extent of the harms of the armed conflict, and the resilience and creativity of the people most affected by it.
Exploitation Route Our grassroots partners in Colombia have taken the findings forward locally. They continue to report back on their progress.
We have successfully produced a range of compelling outputs based on long, slow building of trust and an ethos of horizontality. These demonstrate the power of creativity, art and collectivity in producing new meanings for societies and individuals coming out of periods of armed conflict.
The University of Bristol has embraced our findings as part of its moves towards decolonising the institution, and we are applying our findings to consultation about reconfiguring research ethics.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Creative Economy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Education

Government

Democracy and Justice

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

Security and Diplomacy
URL https://mempaz.com/
 
Description This project had a direct impact upon the workings of the Truth Commission (CEV) in Colombia, in particular the Gender Working Group, with whom we established a close working relationship around their collection of testimonies. We were explicitly thanked in the publication of the Truth Commission report in July 2022, and invited to its launch event. We organized the UK launch of the Truth Commission report in Bristol. At the grassroots level, our partners through the National Library, Ruta Pacifica, Rodeemos el Dialogo and the Red de Lugares de Memoria have all reported strengthened local capacity for memory and truth processes, as a direct result of our project. The Truth Commissioners have expressed their enormous gratitude for our ongoing support and input into their research. In 2023, the final year of this project, we hosted many events and publishing books, articles, films, podcasts, workshops and written texts. In 2023 the PI was appointed as chair of the University of Bristol Research Ethics Committee, with the aim of using these findings to inform the reform of research ethics approval and processes in line with the horizontal and transparent workings of this projectn.
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

Policy & public services
 
Description PRAXIS Report Transforming Conflict and Displacement through Arts and Humanities
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or Improved professional practice
Impact These are all detailed in the PRAXIS report.
URL https://changingthestory.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/110/2021/12/University-of-Leeds-PRAXIS...
 
Description Bringing Memories in from the Margins
Amount £150,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Bristol 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2022 
End 04/2023
 
Description Muchamedia 
Organisation Mucha Media
Sector Private 
PI Contribution This collaboration was inspired by MEMPAZ and continued in parallel throughout the funded period. It was financed by internal Bristol resources and Chilean funding. Publications are forthcoming.
Collaborator Contribution Muchamedia is a Chilean multimedia documentary company. We produced podcasts, films and texts together.
Impact El estallido de las cosas podcast
Start Year 2020
 
Description Hosting the visit of Truth Commissioner Alejandra Miller at MShed, Bristol 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 12 Colombians from across Bristol and the South-West attended to learn about the Truth Commission's report.
15 policymakers, academics and practitioners from across the UK learned from the event and participated in a networking event the next day, which created new plans for further collaborations in support of the dissemination of the Truth Commission's findings.
70 people attended in person and 10 online.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/events/2022/november/the-report-of-the-colombian-truth-commission.html
 
Description MEMPAZ website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The MEMPAZ website presents the research of our collaborators in the form of video, audio, photography, and text. It launched in March 2023. It showcases all of the wonderful outputs and impacts of the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023,2024
URL https://mempaz.com/
 
Description Memories from the Margins week of public events in Bristol 20-24 March 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This was a big week of events to engage the general public in Bristol and the south-west region with the findings of the Bringing Memories in from the Margins and the Truth on the Margins project.
It included 6 events -
1. a gig of Colombian-Bristollian music at the Old Assembly venue, with 200 participants from the Bristol music and Latin American scenes dancing until 1.30am
2. a theatre performance from victims of gender violence in Antioquia, Colombia, coordinated by Ruta Pacifica, attended by 60 people at the Bristol Improv theatre and bringing most of them to tears;
3. a gala celebration at the Station venue, attended by a 100 people, beginning with a ritual dance and song led by our Arhuaco partners and ending with a lots of hugs, presentations and smiling;
4. a film screening at the Watershed cinema of the interactive MEMPAZ documentary produced by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia;
5. a cookery workshop at the Station led by our partners MUMIDAVI, cooking traditional Colombian dishes which brought memories of forced internal displacement;
6. a photographic exhibition of the Arhuaco photobook, held at the headquarters of Bristol City Council, attended by 200 people over 2 days.
Participants informed us that the impact of these events was substantial in changing people's understanding of the impact of armed conflict in Colombia and around the world.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOC62tjIS-E&t=3s