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Key research themes
1. How are local memories transformed and negotiated within transnational and global memory spaces?
This research area examines the processes through which local memories of historical violence, atrocity, or traumatic events transcend their immediate geographic and cultural contexts to become part of transnational memory spaces. It focuses on how mechanisms like professionalization and commercialization contribute to translating localized memory narratives into global discourses accessible and recognizable to wider audiences. Understanding this dynamic is vital because such transformation affects the representation, reception, and political economy of memory, impacting identity, reconciliation, and collective remembrance globally.
Key finding: The paper empirically demonstrates through multi-sited ethnography in South Africa and Bosnia-Herzegovina that professionalization and commercialization are distinct yet interrelated modes that translate local memory... Read more
Key finding: Through comparative ethnographic analysis of two neighborhoods in Valencia, the study finds that local institutional actors promote hegemonic memories aligned with commodification and tourism in historical centers, and with... Read more
Key finding: The project develops a collaborative framework for collecting oral histories and memorabilia from elder inhabitants in Lisbon’s Avenidas Novas, fostering community identity and critical engagement with local heritage. It... Read more
2. What role do museums and memorial spaces play in shaping the embodied experience and pedagogical engagement with local and collective memory?
This theme explores how museums and commemorative sites configure, materialize, and mediate collective and individual memories through embodied practices, spatial organization, and aesthetic representation. It highlights the pedagogical functions of such spaces in facilitating critical reflection, social inclusion, and human rights consciousness, particularly within contexts marked by traumatic or contested pasts. The inquiry foregrounds the interplay between sensory experience, memory production, and community involvement in museum settings as crucial for sustaining living memory cultures.
Key finding: Analysis shows that Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights functions as a pedagogic site that materializes historical trauma within an aesthetic and symbolic framework fostering meaningful learning. It documents tensions... Read more
Key finding: This critical study problematizes the commercialization of memory within the MMDH, investigating how visitor subjectivity is co-constituted through commercial and commemorative spaces. Drawing on Marita Sturken’s concept of... Read more
Key finding: The Centre innovatively combines anthropological fieldwork, biographical methods, and immaterial heritage studies to embed social memory into museological practice. The project foregrounds active community participation and... Read more
3. How can digital technologies and participatory frameworks foster the construction and maintenance of local collective memory?
This theme investigates the potentials and challenges of digital community memories and participatory practices in documenting, sharing, and memorializing local histories and traumatic events. It focuses on digital archives, interactive installations, and crowdsourced storytelling as tools facilitating collective engagement with memory. The inquiry emphasizes the socio-technical infrastructures and collaborative methodologies crucial to preserving intangible heritage, democratizing memory production, and enhancing public awareness.
Key finding: The paper introduces an interactive tabletop installation combining art and computational methods to visualize and explore diverse human memory concepts. The system dynamically evolves based on user inputs, collectively... Read more
Key finding: Describes the collaborative process and computational infrastructure developed to create the Aqua Granda digital community memory, capturing citizen contributions around catastrophic flood events in Venice. The study details... Read more
Key finding: This documentation details the implementation of a digital community memory system for the Aqua Granda flood events in Venice, integrating social media data, oral histories, and scientific analyses into an open-access... Read more