Doing memory with needle and thread: narrating transformations of violent conflict

Authors

  • Berit Bliesemann de Guevara Aberystwyth University
  • Roxani Krystalli University of St Andrews

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1630

Keywords:

textiles, violent conflict, transformation, ex-combatants, memory, Colombia

Abstract

The two authors embark on a conversation about how textiles open up space for different kinds of storytelling — understood as central to interpretive research — about violence, memory and transformation in the aftermath of armed conflict. They draw on their respective research and experiences in the context of the armed conflict and fragile peace process in Colombia, where Roxani investigates the politics and hierarchies of victimhood, and Berit is involved in a project that combines narrative practice and textile narratives into a methodology to explore former guerrilla combatants’ subjectivities and wider society’s resonances to their preferred stories. Photos of textiles and textile-making accompany their conversation.

Author Biographies

Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Aberystwyth University

Berit Bliesemann de Guevara is a Professor at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, Wales. Her research interests include peace- and state-building processes, violent conflict, unarmed civilian protection, knowledge politics, interpretive approaches in IR, and creative research methods.

Roxani Krystalli, University of St Andrews

Dr Roxani Krystalli is a Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, with a research focus on feminist approaches to peace and conflict studies. For over a decade, she has worked as a practitioner in humanitarian action, peace-building and transitional justice. She is also a writer and storyteller, interested in the themes of memory and loss, nature and place, violence and care.

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Published

2022-01-05

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021): Contemporary Voices

Section

Openings

License

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