Historia Reciente y Memoria

Informe Sección Historia Reciente y Memoria

Eugenia Allier y Katherine Hite

As all recognize, the 2020-21 year was unlike no other. Our Section members navigated the tremendous twin disasters of COVID-19 and economic crisis. Many suffered terrible personal loss. For our section, this included the death of a founder and former executive committee member Professor Juan Fernández of the University of Puerto Rico.

Nevertheless, the Sección Historia Reciente y Memoria persisted, taking advantage of the rise in virtual connection by sponsoring an extremely well-attended and viewed April 2021 set of pre-LASA mesas as well as the May 2021 LASA Congress panel and roundtable. The Section also awarded our bi-annual "Best Published Article" in the fields of Historia Reciente y Memoria.

In addition, in November 2020, the Section led a successful collective initiative to seek relief from the high annual cost for participation in the LASA Congress.

Round Table Pre-LASA

In April 2021, we held three virtual pre-LASA panels, the first related to the history and trajectory of our Section, and the second and third, to what the current situation means for our varied work in recent history and memory. The integration of each of the panels is shown below. Each guest was asked to share a fifteen-minute series of reflections, allowing time at the end of the panelists' comments for an extensive discussion. The panels were an opportunity to share stimulating perspectives and work, and to discuss with everyone in our Section both the history and the trajectories of the Section itself.

The tables were organized on two Fridays in April. We made a zoom link, to which all members of the Section had access, and it was also transmitted via Facebook and Youtube.

1) "Balance de la sección"

Viernes, 16 de abril, 10:00-12:30 (México)

Esta mesa tiene como objetivo realizar un balance histórico de la Sección Historia Reciente y Memoria desde su creación hasta el día de hoy, con algunas preguntas en mente: ¿cuáles fueron los objetivos de la sección, siguen siendo los mismos? ¿cuáles han sido los cambios en la sección? ¿cómo podemos ampliar la sección y darla conocer más entre quienes se dedican a este campo en América Latina?

Homenaje a Juan Fernández

Aldo Marchesi
Florencia Levín
Peter Winn
Claudio Barrientos
Moderadora: Mariana Joffily

Link para consultar: https://www.facebook.com/coloquiohistoriapresente/videos/451483112588729
"Nuevas miradas sobre la historia reciente y la memoria en América Latina"

Viernes, 23 de abril, 10-12:30 (México)

En estas mesas queremos dar a conocer algunas líneas de investigación originales y novedosas en torno a los estudios de la memoria y la historia reciente en América Latina.

10:15-11:15
Maria Eugenia Ulfe
Jo-Marie Burt
Emilio Crenzel
Katherine Hite - Eugenia Allier
Moderadora: Eugenia Allier

11:15-12:30
Alberto del Castillo
Diego Sempol
Alicia de los Ríos - Camilo Vicente
Luis Roniger
Ponciano del Pino
Moderadora: Katherine Hite Link para consultar:

https://www.facebook.com/granadacardona/videos/10159405989213304

LASA Congress 2021

During the May 2021 LASA Congress, HRyM sponsored a virtual panel and a roundtable, both of which were well-attended. Unfortunately, and perhaps as a consequence of managing professional and personal lives at home while trying to participate virtually rather than being fully present physically at the Congress, some of the original panelists and roundtable members were unable to participate.

Panel: "Políticas de memoria y violencia: afectos, justicia y archivos orales"

This panel examines the dynamics of struggle and resistance in relation to sujetos, spaces, and collectivities of memory and history. We propose a broad panel around memories, histories, and social movements that allows members of the Section to present their papers in the context of the pandemic. This includes memories of violence, segregation, and racism of the past and present, whose actors can be sujetos(agents of memory), collectives (victims of human rights violations groups, etc.), agencies (public and private) and institutions (in terms of either official or non-government memory policies and politics).

Session Organizer: Katherine Hite, Vassar College
Chair: Eugenia Allier Montaño, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Discussant: Mariana Achugar, Universidad de la República

"Espacio sonoro y archivos orales. Acerca de las atmósferas afectivas como contacto intertemporal" Cecilia Macon, University of Buenos Aires;

"The long fog of impunity and infamous perpetrator confessions in Uruguay: Gavazzo, Tróccoli and Vazquez, 2019-2020" Mariana Achugar, Universidad de la República; Gabriela Fried Amilivia, California State University, Los Angeles

Roundtable: "Historias y memorias en la época de COVID"

This roundtable is a moment to share reflections regarding how we conceptualize our work and what matters during this unprecedented global crisis. What does it mean for our framing and selecting what histories and memories matter? How do we conduct research in these times? How might intergenerational dialogue enhance our understandings of previous histories and memories of crisis and loss in relation to the present? What methodological transformations must we undergo given the constraints we face as we study individual and collective memories, museums, memorials, and the like?

Chair and Presenter: Eugenia Allier Montaño, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Presenter: Maria Eugenia Ulfe, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Presenter: Susana Kaiser, University of San Francisco
Presenter: Natalia Ruiz-Rubio, Eastern Washington University
Presenter: Lorena Antezana Barrios, Universidad de Chile
Session Organizer: Eugenia Allier Montaño, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

"Best Published Article" in the fields of Historia Reciente y Memoria:

Best Article Award: Emilio Crenzel, "The Crimes of the Last Dictatorship in Argentina and its Qualification as Genocide: A Historicization," Global Society (2019);

Honorable Mentions: Camilo Vicente Ovalle, "Política de contrainsurgencia y desaparición forzada en México en la década de 1970 (2019); Diego Sempol, "Memoria trans y violencia estatal. La Ley Integral para Personas Trans y los debates sobre el pasado reciente en Uruguay (2019).

We thank the members of the prize committee jury: Alison Bruey (University of North Florida, USA; Alberto del Castillo (Instituto Mora, México), and Aldo Marchesi (Universidad de la República, Uruguay).

Section Business Meeting

Members discussed the ongoing challenges of maintaining and growing Section membership at a time of crisis, as well as the positive dimensions of connecting virtually across the region. HRyM see this coming year as one of renewal, and in light of the many challenges of the past two years for our members and leadership, the Section voted to approve three co-chairs rather than two. We are very pleased by the breadth of the thematics and the region that the three new co-chairs represent.

Incoming HRyM Co-Chairs:
Alicia de los Ríos, Universidad de Chihuahua;
Mariana Joffily, Universidad del Estado de Santa Catarina;
Alejandra Oberti, Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Respectfully submitted, Eugenia Allier y Katherine Hite