Colombia's Memory House Museum and Argentina's Space of Memory
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V A L E R I A P O S A D A V I L L A D A WHEN MEMORIES BECOME DUTY Colombia’s Memory House Museum and Argentina’s Space of Memory and Human Rights Photograph taken from Centro Internacional para la Justicia Transicional (August, 2009) © 2018 © Valeria Posada Villada War is not a life: it is a situation; One which may neither be ignored nor accepted, A problem to be met with ambush and stratagem, Enveloped or scattered. A Note on War Poetry T.S. Eliot WHEN MEMORIES BECOME DUTY: Colombia’s Memory House Museum and Argentina’s Space of Memory and Human Rights Written by Valeria Posada Villada 11127554 Advised by Dr. Ihab Saloul Second reader Mirjam Hoijtink Master Thesis Masters in Museum Studies Universiteit van Amsterdam January 2018. i Abstract In Latin America, Duty of Memory, or Deber de memoria, forms part of Transitional Justice measures that strive to symbolically address mass historical violations through the public recognition of victims and the incorporation of their stories of pain, exclusion, and repression into their national narratives. Within this context, Argentina and Colombia are two examples of the complexities inherent in attempting to restore the social networks. Scarred by a past military dictatorship (1976-1983) and a continuing internal armed conflict (1946-), both nations have applied Transitional Justice Systems and Duty of Memory as state policy. However, even when the two countries share the same framework, the political dynamics of each country and the ways their civil societies conceive of justice, vary considerably. Argentina is closer to a Retributive Justice model in which individual criminal accountability for the past is prioritized of over other forms of symbolic reparation. Colombia frames its past and present through Restorative Justice, defining violations as collective wrongdoings and basing reparation on dialogue, negotiation, and restoration of the bonds of trust. These two distinct viewpoints can be contrasted through the analysis of the material aspect of Duty of Memory, that is, the memorial museums and trauma sites that have emerged as spaces of reflection and commemoration in both countries. This study takes one memorial museum and one trauma site as embodiments of two outlooks on Duty of Memory. The memorial museum is the Museum House of Memory in Medellín, Colombia, which focuses on clarifying the effects of the armed conflict, acknowledging its victims and survivors and re-signifying violence to support peacebuilding interventions. The trauma site chosen is the Space of Memory and Human Rights (SMHR) of Argentina located in the Navy- Petty Officers School of Mechanics (ESMA), one of Buenos Aires’ former Secret Detention Centers, and now functioning as a humanitarian platform to condemn state Terrorism. Within this thesis, I explore how the architectural, spatial, aesthetic and programming practices of these two sites are influenced by the obligations required by Duty of Memory but also establish a two-way relationship with this framework defining the content that is to be included within it. ii Acknowledgements Looking back, I can say this thesis is the final product not only of months of research but of the experience I acquired while working in museological projects on memory back in Colombia. Therefore, I want to thank former colleagues, supervisors, friends and Human Rights advocates whose valuable approaches and experiences on the subject have contributed to shaping the methodology used in this research. With regards to the editorial process, I am deeply indebted to Laura Alexander who stood beside me on nights without end to help me make sense of Argentina's and Colombia's painful past both narratively and emotionally, becoming a fundamental source of support. I also want to express my gratitude to my supervisor Ihab Saloul for his interest in Latin America's museological approach to painful pasts and his remarks on Duty of Memory as part of state policy. The historian Arij Ouweneel should also receive a heartwarming thank you. Ouweneel's disposition to share with me his insights on regional memory politics, Duty of Memory and cognitive psychology have certainly left an imprint on this work. He, as well as the CEDLA institute overall, received me with open arms and sharpened my knowledge by engaging with my research in multiple conversations and provided me with an extensive collection of bibliographic references unattainable in other Dutch universities. It is also worth mentioning the CRAM documentation center in the Memory House Museum, Diego Guiñazu from SMHR's educational program and Celeste Orozco from the Museum Site of Memory ESMA, who generously granted me access to an essential number of documents and provided me further contacts to develop my research. Micaela García and Nora Poggio in Buenos Aires and Maria Paula Pérez in Medellín also became my second eyes, taking photographs of the places I did not get to be or which I did not previously register, helping me have a closer look on the social landscape of both countries. Even when miles away, I express my most profound gratitude to my parents and brothers, who have relentlessly supported me throughout this journey and have revealed to me the traces of the conflict in our hearts and family history in the hope that these will, someday, become a matter of the past. Last but not least, I undertook this research with the goal of communicating my admiration towards the individuals who have endured the painful effects of repression and iii violence in Colombia and Argentina, creating alternative pathways to deal with the past and becoming personal and political referents in my career path. I hope this work does justice to them. iv Contents Abstract Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations List of Figures Introduction 1 Theoretical Framework 4 ▪ The Contexts of Duty of Memory 8 ▪ Retaking control of a Secret Detention Center 20 ▪ The Bicentennial Park and the MHM project 26 ▪ SMHR’s and MHM’s Museological concepts and models 32 Chapter I. Duty of Memory gives life to a Space: The Space of Memory and Human Rights in Buenos Aires 35 ▪ What to do with the ESMA? ▪ Homage 43 ▪ Resistance 48 ▪ Reparation 53 Chapter II. A House to stage Duty of Memory: The House of Memory Museum in Medellín 61 ▪ Recognition 69 ▪ Clarification 75 ▪ Restoration 80 Conclusion 86 References 94 Appendices 114 v List of Abbreviations SMHR Space of Memory and Human Rights MHM Memory House Museum TJS Transitional Justice System SDC Secret Detention Center ESMA Navy-Petty Officers School of Mechanics ERP Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo CONADEP National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons Abuelas Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo Madres Madres of the Plaza de Mayo Madres L.F Madres Foundational Line Liga League for the Rights of Men APDH Permanent Assembly for Human Rights SERPAJ Peace and Justice Service CELS Centre for Legal Studies MEDH Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights Familiares Family members of Disappeared-Detainees AEDD Ex-Detainee/Disappeared Association H.I.J.O.S Sons for Identity and Justice against Oblivion and Silence MC Complete Memory AFFyAPPA Association for Families and Friends of the Political Prisoners of Argentina IEM Institute Space for Memory EAAF Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team GAC Street Art Group CPM Provincial Commission for Memory FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia M-19 19th of April Movement ELN National Liberation Army EPL Popular Liberation Army vi MAQL Quintín Lame Armed Movement MAS Death to Kidnappers AUC United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia CNRR National Commission on Reparation and Reconciliation GMH Historical Memory Group SNARIV National System for the Attention and Integral Reparation for the Victims CNMH National Centre for Historical Memory EDU Urban Development Company PUI Urban Integral Project POT Spatial & Territorial Planning CRAM Centre of Resources for the Activation of Memory OIM International Organization for Migration AECID Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation EPM Medellín Public Enterprises ASFADES Association of Relatives of the Disappeared CINEP Centre for Research and Popular Education IPC Popular Training Institute AFAVIT Association of Relatives of the Victims of Trujillo ASOVIDA Association of United Victims of the Granada Municipality CARE Centre for Approach, Reconciliation and Reparation of San Carlos PROVISAME Promoters of Life and Mental Health MAMM Modern Art Museum of Medellín RCLM Network of Colombian Sites of Memory RESLAC Latin American and Caribbean Network of Sites of Memory vii List of Figures Appendices A. Map of the City of Buenos Aires including percentage living under poverty line and SMHR location 124 B. Map of the SMHR including crime spots and Human Right Organization Headquarters 125 C. Map of the City of Medellín including the sixteen communas and population density 126 D. Construction Plan for the Bicentenary Park made by Planta Baja Architects 127 E. Tree of Life sculpture assembled by the artist Leobardo Pérez Jiménez with the cutting blades collected from the Comunas in the Municipality’s Week of Disarmament. 128 F. Mahatma Ghandi Sculpture made by the artist Ram Sutaren donated by the Indian Embassy as a gift. The quote translates: “If you are at peace with yourself, at least there is one place at peace in the world”. 129 G. Siluetazo in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 22 1983. 130 H. Photographs of the disappeared in the Cuatro Columnas, Madres de la Plaza Building and Museum Site of Memory ESMA 131 I. GAC (2013) Presentes installation in the SMHR precinct, Nazza Stencil ‘Juicio y castigo’ mural in the H.I.J.O.S building and Carlson’s (2014) Apparitions exhibit at the Infirmary. 132 J. The Cuatro Columnas Building in 1928 and 2017. 133 K. Cuatro Columnas base floor blueprint with the objects displayed by December 10, 2017 134 L. The artistic installation of grey and red ‘marble tiles’ displayed at the Cuatro Columnas Building.