Pilar Riaño-Alcalá

Associate Professor
The University of British Columbia
Rm 333 - 2080 West Mall
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
Phone: 604-827-5493
Fax: 604-822-8656

E-mail: Pilar.Riano@ubc.ca

B.A. in Anthropology, National University of Colombia, 1983
M.A. in Communications, Simon Fraser University, 1990
Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 2000

Other Affiliations

Latin American Studies Program, UBC

Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, CCPA

Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University

My research, teaching, community work, and writing bordercross Latin America and North America. In my scholarly work, I am primarily concerned with three broad themes relating to ongoing violent conflicts: the lived experience of violence and displacement, the politics of memory, and the ethnography of suffering. The main questions that inform my participation in research, policy, and practice settings are: how do societies come to terms with a violent past? How can researchers facilitate community-based processes of historical memory and social reconstruction that are democratic?

My other area of scholarly and educational interest is about critical research methodologies. Over the years, I have explored questions about knowledge organization and validity through the development of critical research methodologies that foster interactive, process-based methods that tap into the various ways of knowing and organizing knowledge among local communities engaged in research processes.

My work also explores how ideas of community are negotiated and contested in contemporary societies and how individuals construct their memberships as citizens, community members, refugees, immigrants or across transnational borders through social struggles and creative processes.

Areas of Interest

Historical Memory and cultural dimensions of violence
Forced migration (internal displacement and refuge)
Community Based Research and public pedagogy
Communities, social development and public art

Current Research Projects

The Social Functions of Memory: Based in Colombia, this study addresses the reconstruction of historical memory, and its relation to justice and reconciliation in a society with a long-standing armed conflict that is undergoing a process of demobilization, reintegration and reconciliation as the conflict continues. My research follows the work of the Working Group on Historical Memory, an interdisciplinary body of intellectuals and social leaders that is responsible for historical clarification and the development (with the “wide participation of society”) of a public report on the emergence and evolution of armed groups. Funded by the UBC Hampton Research Endowment Fund.

Against Mass Atrocities: Community Based Strategies to Document Human Rights Abuses in Ongoing Conflict Settings (Uganda and Colombia). Principal Investigators: Erin Baines (UBC, Liu Institute for Global Issues) and Pilar Riaño. This interdisciplinary, collaborative research project examines the conditions in which community based organizations collect evidence and victims’ memories of human rights abuses in settings of ongoing conflict. Comparing communities within and across Colombia and northern Uganda, two sites of prolonged conflict, this project develops a conceptual framework for interpreting when and why communities adopt specific strategies to document and remember. Further, it examines how such strategies contribute to local, national or international justice and reconciliation initiatives. Funded by the Martha Piper Research Fund, UBC.

Forced Migration of Colombians. A Comparative Study on Fear, Historical Memory and Social Representations in Colombia, Ecuador and Canada. A collaborative project with Martha Villa, Ana M. Jaramillo and Amparo Sánchez of Corporación Región, Colombia and with the participation of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Ecuador. The project aims to identify how social fears, historical memory and public representations of internally displaced peoples in Colombia (IDPs) and refugees in Ecuador and Canada influence their integration into the context of settlement and the responses from host populations to the presence of IDPs/refugees. The research aims to make this humanitarian crisis more visible through a study illustrating the differences and commonalities in the experiences of IDPs and refugees and by extrapolating the implications that these variations have on the development of policy and practice at the national and international levels. Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, SSHRC, and Colciencias, Colombia

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Journal articles

Riaño-Alcalá, P. and L. Goldring. Unpacking refugee community and transnational organizing: The challenges and diverse experiences of Colombians in Canada. Journal of Refugee Studies (accepted with revisions)
Ibanez-Carrasco, Francisco and Pilar Riaño-Alcalá. 'Organizing Community Based Research Knowledge Between University and Communities: Lessons Learned'. Community Development Journal. 2009
Riaño-Alcalá, P. Journeys and Landscapes of Forced Migration: Memorializing Fear among Refugees and Internally Displaced Colombians'. Social Anthropology. 16.1 (February 2008): 1 - 18.
Lacy, S and P. Riano-Alcala. 'Medellin, Colombia: Reinhabiting Memory'. ART JOURNAL. 65.4 (Winter 2006): 96 - 112.
Riaño, P. 'Los talleres de la memoria con poblacion desplazada en Colombia [Memory Workshops with Internally Displaced Populations in Colombia]'. Historia, Antropologia y Fuentes Orales [History, Anthropology and Oral Sources]. 34 (2005): 81 - 96.
Riaño-Alcala, P. 'Remembering Place: Memory and Violence in Medellín, Colombia'. Journal of Latin American Anthropology . 7.1 (2002): 276 - 310.
Riaño, P. La memoria viva de las muertes: lugares e identidades juveniles en Medellín. Análisis Político. 2000, 41, 23 - 40.
Riaño, P. Recuerdos Metodologicos. El Taller y la investigacion Etnografica (Methodological memories: workshops and ethnographic Research. Estudios sobre las culturas contemporaneas. September, 1999, 143 - 168.

Journal – Editor

Guest Editor with Marie Lacroix. Special Issue on “International Social Work: Conceptual, Practice and Research Issues,” Canadian Social Work Review. March, 2008
Guest Editor. Memory, Representations and Narratives: Rethinking Violence in Colombia. Journal of Latin American Anthropology (AAA), 2002: 7 (1)

Books

Poniendo Tierra de por Medio. Migración forzada de colombianos en Colombia, Ecuador y Canada. Edited by Riaño, P and M. Villa. Medellin: Corporación Region and University of British Columbia, 2008. 480 pages

Dwellers of Memory: Youth and Violence in Medellin, Colombia (1985-2000). Memory and Narratives. New York: Transaction Press, 2006. 285 pages.

Jóvenes, memoria y violencia en Medellín. Una Antropología del Recuerdo y el Olvido (Youth, Memory and Violence. An Anthropology of Remembering and Forgetting). Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia, Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, 2006. 260 pages. National Mention of Honour in Social Sciences; Fundacion Alejandro Escobar, 2006

Arte, memoria y violencia. Reflexiones sobre la ciudad (Art, Memory and Violence. Reflections on the city). First Edition. Medellin: Corporacion Region, 2003. 111 pages.

*Riaño, P. Women in Grassroots Communications: Furthering Social Change. Communication and Human Values Series, 315 pages. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 1994 www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav;

Several Authors:

Sánchez, Gonzalo, Álvaro Camacho, Jesús Colorado, Pilar Gaitán, Fernán González, Absalón Machado, Iván Orozco, Jorge Restrepo, Pilar Riaño, Andrés Suarez, María V. Uribe, León Valencia and María E. Wills. Trujillo. Una Tragedia que no Cesa. Bogotá: Editorial Planeta Colombiana, 2008. 301 pages.

Book Chapters

Riaño-Alcalá, P. and M. Villa. ‘Migracion forzada de colombianos. Reflexiones metodológicas sobre un proceso de investigación comparativa’ [Forced Migration of Colombians. Methodological reflections on a comparative research process]. Encuentros disciplinarios y debates metodológicos: La práctica de la investigación sobre migraciones y movilidades. Ed. Liliana Rivera and Fernando Lozano. Mexico City: Siglo XXI Editores. In print
Riaño-Alcalá, P. 'Les sentiers de la peur et de la mémoire: les réfugiés colombiens au Canada. Images de la violence en Amerique Latine'. Images de la violence en Amerique Latine. Ed. Pierre Beaucage and Martin Herbert. Quebec: Les Presses de L'Universite Laval , 2008. 211 - 236.
*Riaño-Alcala, P. 'Seeing the Past, Visions of the Future: Memory Workshops with Internally Displaced Persons in Colombia'. Oral Histories and Public Memories. Ed. Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008. 269 – 292. (PDF to be included)
Riaño-Alcalá, P. and M. Villa. Las fronteras del no reconocimiento. Los colombianos en situación de refugio en Ecuador. En Riaño, P and M. Villa, eds. Poniendo Tierra de por Medio. Migración forzada de colombianos en Colombia, Ecuador y Canadá, 222-278. Corporacion Region and University of British Columbia, 2008.
Riaño-Alcalá, P. Trayectos y escenarios del miedo y las memorias de las personas refugiadas y desplazadas internas. En Riaño, P and M. Villa, eds. Poniendo Tierra de por Medio. Migración forzada de colombianos en Colombia,Ecuador y Canadá, 383-418. Medellín: Corporación Región and University of British Columbia, 2008.
Riaño, P. Women’s Participation in Communication: Elements for a Framework". Communication for Social Change ANTHOLOGY: Historical and Contemporary Readings. Ed. Alfonso Gumucio and Thomas Tuffe. New York: Communication for Social Change, 2006, 443-453. (PDF to be included)
Riaño, P. El Desplazamiento interno y los trabajos de la memoria. Los talleres de la memoria [Internal Displacement and Memory Works. Memory Workshops]. Investigación y desplazamiento forzado. Reflexiones éticas y metodológicas. Ed. Martha Nubia Bello. Bogota: REDIF, Red de Investigadores sobre Desplazamiento Forzado, 2006, 91-111 (PDF to be included)
Riaño, P. Encounters with Memory and Mourning: Public Art as Collective Pedagogy of Reconciliation'. In Ibanez-Carrasco, Francisco and Erica Meiners, Eds. Public Acts: Disruptive Readings on Making Curriculum Public. Routledge. New York. First Edition, 2004, 237 - 261.

Reports – Online Resources

Riaño, P., Diaz, P.; Osorio, M and M. Colorado. The Forced Migration of Colombians. Canada. Corporación Región and University of British Columbia, 2008.
Rivera, F; Ortega, H; Larreategui, P and P Riaño. La Migración Forzada de Colombianos. Ecuador. Corporación Región, University of British Columbia and Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, FLACSO, 2007. Include .pdf
Rodriguez, C.; Riaño, P; Vega, J and A. Cadavid. Guía para la primera fase de evaluación de experiencias de medios ciudadanos y comunitarios. Equipo interuniversitario para el diseño y elaboración de metodologías cualitativas de sistematización, evaluación y seguimiento a proyectos de comunicación ciudadana y para el cambio social.
Riaño, P and Policzer, I. Open Solicitation Process Fails to Meet Community Needs. A Report on the State of Settlement Information and Support Services for Northeast and East Vancouver Immigrants. The University of British Columbia and MOSAIC. Mar, 2005. 20 pages.
Riaño, P. La cultura y la migración colombiana a los Estados Unidos [Culture and Colombian Migration to United States]. In Cuantificación y caracterización de la población inmigrante colombiana en los Estados Unidos: Sistematización General y Estado del Arte. Ana M. Bidegain and Maria Laysa, Coordinators. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia and Colombian Studies Institute, Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University. March 2005.
Riaño, P. Los derechos humanos y la migración colombiana a Estados Unidos [Human Rights and Colombian Migration to United States]. In Cuantificación y caracterización de la población inmigrante colombiana en los Estados Unidos: Sistematización General y Estado del Arte. Ana M. Bidegain, Coordinator. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia and Colombian Studies Institute, Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University. March 2005.
Riaño, P; Adams, J; Au, W.; Hui, G. And D. Kitchen. Communities, Community Workers and Local Government: Challenges Faced and Lessons Learned in a Community Development Project in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, University of British Columbia, 2004. 42 pages

Videos

Skin of Memory, La Piel de la Memoria. A Documentary about a Public Art Project in Medellìn, Colombia. Produced by Dorothy Kidd; Associate Producer: Pilar Riaño, Commoners Productions

Part 1

Part 2

Updated September 29, 2009