Archives of Violence: Case Studies from South America, Qualitative Semi-structured Interviews with Workers and Ex-workers of Three Important Archives, 2018-2020

The research project sought to understand the histories and development of the three chosen archives in South America, focussing in particular on the challenges they had faced and how they had overcome them. Its purpose was not only to record these histories but also to provide recommendations for those setting up archives elsewhere both within and outside Latin America. To this end, the team contacted the archives and requested interviews with members of the archives. We were able to secure interviews with workers currently working at the archives as well as those who had previously worked there (this was especially important in the case of the Colombian Centro Nacional de Memoria Historica, where there had been several recent changes in personnel). We also interviewed persons who were not workers in the archives but that worked in other archives, museums or communities in these countries with an interest in how human rights violations were being registered. Through these interviews one is able to understand the histories of the different histories of these archives, the ways in which they approach their work and the challenges that each has and continues to face.