Methodological Approaches to the Margins of Violence (CISA Workshop)
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
Speakers:
Dr Miriam Saqqa-Carazo, INCIPIT-CSIC
Lucía Expósito-Cívico, University of Granada
Discussants: Jen Baird and Layla Renshaw
All welcome.
This open workshop will be of interest to academics and students working in memory studies, forensic and contemporary archaeology, material culture, history of science, and the study of political violence. The event aims to present two case studies focused on materiality and archives and to foster dialogue on methodological approaches.
Deconstructing the Perpetrator's Archive: From Dictatorial Exhumations in Spain to Colonial Archaeology in Palestine
Dr Miriam Saqqa-Carazo, INCIPIT-CSIC
This paper reflects on the methodological and epistemological challenges of working with archival documents produced by perpetrators, questioning their pretended unbiased and scientific logic. Drawing on two case studies, my research on mass grave exhumations developed by the Spanish
dictatorship in the 1940s, and my current work on a 19th-century British archaeological survey on Palestine, I would like to show how an interdisciplinary approach combining historical, forensic, and anthropological methods enables me to engage critically with these complex documents. These cases aim to stimulate a discussion on the methodological challenges of researching political violence and its archival traces.
Public Understanding of DNA in Francoist Mass Graves
Lucía Expósito-Cívico, University of Granada
This work-in-progress study forms part of a doctoral dissertation grounded in STS and neo-materialist perspectives. It analyses the final reports of the exhumations carried out in the Barranco de Víznar (Granada, Spain), with particular attention to how the testimonies of relatives and other social actors are incorporated into these documents. The research focuses especially on the cultural and expert perceptions that DNA generates as a form of intangible materiality within this specific exhumation context.
Contact name: Katy Pettit
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