Overview

Dwellers of Memory is an ethnographic study of how urban youth in Colombia came to be at the intersection of multiple forms of political, drug-related, and territorial violence in a country undergoing forty years of internal armed conflict.

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9780765803146

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Reviews

This textured ethnography of how young barrio dwellers from Medelln, Colombia, collectively weave their memories of violence into the very space of death where they live, provides new directions for the anthropology of violence, moving us beyond fatalism and voyeurism, to a constructive engagement with the very people with whom we work. The actors in this ethnography are eloquent witnesses to the Colombian conflict, presented by Pilar Riao-Alcal as agents in the reconstruction of their world--although they are not always successful in this respect. Riao shows us how their memories of violence are lodged in urban space, embodied in narratives and in sound and movement. In this thought-provoking book, Riao-Alcal recounts how she transformed the traditional ethnographic enterprise, not with innovative modes of writing, but through an innovative field methodology in which tangible connections with and among her respondents are built through collective remembering, making the researcher part of the very story she is investigating. Riao-Alcal's workshop approach--itself, a Latin American contribution to anthropology--is an eloquent example of how anthropological methods can contribute to dialogue and peacemaking. Dwellers of Memory is engaged anthropology at its very best. --Joanne Rappaport, Professor of Latin American Cultural Studies and Anthropology, Georgetown University Dwellers of Memory is an outstanding examination of Colombian violence, with lessons for much of the contemporary world. Rather than taking violence as an undifferentiated and unavoidable fact affecting countless numbers of faceless people, Dr. Riao takes us through a difficult but intellectually and politically instructive voyage of discovery and understanding of the intimate details that account for the more visible forms of violence. Focusing on the cultural dynamics of remembering and forgetting by poor urban youth in Medelln over the past twenty-five years --in their attac

<p> This textured ethnography of how young barrio dwellers from Medelln, Colombia, collectively weave their memories of violence into the very space of death where they live, provides new directions for the anthropology of violence, moving us beyond fatalism and voyeurism, to a constructive engagement with the very people with whom we work. The actors in this ethnography are eloquent witnesses to the Colombian conflict, presented by Pilar Riao-Alcal as agents in the reconstruction of their world--although they are not always successful in this respect. Riao shows us how their memories of violence are lodged in urban space, embodied in narratives and in sound and movement. In this thought-provoking book, Riao-Alcal recounts how she transformed the traditional ethnographic enterprise, not with innovative modes of writing, but through an innovative field methodology in which tangible connections with and among her respondents are built through collective remembering, making the researcher part of the very story she is investigating. Riao-Alcal's workshop approach--itself, a Latin American contribution to anthropology--is an eloquent example of how anthropological methods can contribute to dialogue and peacemaking. Dwellers of Memory is engaged anthropology at its very best. --Joanne Rappaport, Professor of Latin American Cultural Studies and Anthropology, Georgetown University <p> Dwellers of Memory is an outstanding examination of Colombian violence, with lessons for much of the contemporary world. Rather than taking violence as an undifferentiated and unavoidable fact affecting countless numbers of faceless people, Dr. Riao takes us through a difficult but intellectually and politically instructive voyage of discovery and understanding of the intimate details that account for the more visible forms of violence. Focusing on the cultural dynamics of remembering and forgetting by poor urban youth in Medelln over the past twenty-five years --in their attac

"""This textured ethnography of how young barrio dwellers from Medelln, Colombia, collectively weave their memories of violence into the very space of death where they live, provides new directions for the anthropology of violence, moving us beyond fatalism and voyeurism, to a constructive engagement with the very people with whom we work. The actors in this ethnography are eloquent witnesses to the Colombian conflict, presented by Pilar Riao-Alcal as agents in the reconstruction of their world--although they are not always successful in this respect. Riao shows us how their memories of violence are lodged in urban space, embodied in narratives and in sound and movement. In this thought-provoking book, Riao-Alcal recounts how she transformed the traditional ethnographic enterprise, not with innovative modes of writing, but through an innovative field methodology in which tangible connections with and among her respondents are built through collective remembering, making the researcher part of the very story she is investigating. Riao-Alcal's workshop approach--itself, a Latin American contribution to anthropology--is an eloquent example of how anthropological methods can contribute to dialogue and peacemaking. ""Dwellers of Memory"" is engaged anthropology at its very best."" ""--Joanne Rappaport, Professor of Latin American Cultural Studies and Anthropology, Georgetown University"" """"Dwellers of Memory"" is an outstanding examination of Colombian violence, with lessons for much of the contemporary world. Rather than taking ""violence"" as an undifferentiated and unavoidable fact affecting countless numbers of faceless people, Dr. Riao takes us through a difficult but intellectually and politically instructive voyage of discovery and understanding of the intimate details that account for the more visible forms of violence. Focusing on the cultural dynamics of remembering and forgetting by poor urban youth in Medelln over the past twenty-five years --in their attac ""This textured ethnography of how young barrio dwellers from Medelln, Colombia, collectively weave their memories of violence into the very space of death where they live, provides new directions for the anthropology of violence, moving us beyond fatalism and voyeurism, to a constructive engagement with the very people with whom we work. The actors in this ethnography are eloquent witnesses to the Colombian conflict, presented by Pilar Riao-Alcal as agents in the reconstruction of their world--although they are not always successful in this respect. Riao shows us how their memories of violence are lodged in urban space, embodied in narratives and in sound and movement. In this thought-provoking book, Riao-Alcal recounts how she transformed the traditional ethnographic enterprise, not with innovative modes of writing, but through an innovative field methodology in which tangible connections with and among her respondents are built through collective remembering, making the researcher part of the very story she is investigating. Riao-Alcal's workshop approach--itself, a Latin American contribution to anthropology--is an eloquent example of how anthropological methods can contribute to dialogue and peacemaking. ""Dwellers of Memory"" is engaged anthropology at its very best."" ""--Joanne Rappaport, Professor of Latin American Cultural Studies and Anthropology, Georgetown University"" """"Dwellers of Memory"" is an outstanding examination of Colombian violence, with lessons for much of the contemporary world. Rather than taking ""violence"" as an undifferentiated and unavoidable fact affecting countless numbers of faceless people, Dr. Riao takes us through a difficult but intellectually and politically instructive voyage of discovery and understanding of the intimate details that account for the more visible forms of violence. Focusing on the cultural dynamics of remembering and forgetting by poor urban youth in Medelln over the past twenty-five years --in their attachme"

Author Information

Pilar Riano-Alcala is assistant professor, School of Social Work and Family Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada.

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