“Mobilizing Hopelessness": Educating About and for Memory as a Post-Conflict Civic Disposition in Colombia

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Models of Democratic Education in a Global Context (Table 40)

Abstract

This paper examines what is taught and learned through memory sites, such as museums and memorials, amid continued conflict in Colombia. I draw on a mixed-methods study of two memory sites and four secondary schools in Bogotá and Medellín including observations, surveys, focus groups, and interviews with students, as well as interviews with teachers and site guides. The case of memory-making in non-formal spaces of education highlights the central role of memory work in civic life, stressing how emotions are mobilized for civic participation. Beyond information about the past, memory sites teach about memory in and of itself and offer an opportunity to engage in memory work, an increasingly central skill for post-conflict citizens.

Author

• Paula Mantilla-Blanco, Teachers College, Columbia University