Creating Cultural Memories Across the Americas

by Rashad Mulla

Creating Cultural Memories Across the Americas
Parque Monumento Trujillo mural of Father Tibeiro Fernandez Maflan, the local Colombian priest and community leader who was a victim.

Tragic events have shaped the histories and cultures of many nations. Recently, interest has been growing to document, commemorate, and re-analyze those moments through some form of media or memorialization, bringing these events into the present for sobering discussion.

Two College of Humanities and Social Sciences students, Eleana Velasco and Katherine Pereira, spent a semester researching separate cultural memories in their native countries, Ecuador and Colombia, respectively. Both students partnered with faculty scholars as part of Mason’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.

Velasco, a senior majoring in Spanish and interested in Latin American studies, partnered with Lisa Rabin, a faculty member in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and a cultural studies expert, on the project, Ecuador’s Documentary Films: Uncovering the Past and Finding Identity in the Era of Globalization. Pereira, a senior majoring in government and international politics with minors in Spanish and Latin American studies, collaborated with Ricardo Vivancos Perez, also a faculty member in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and an expert in Spanish and Latino studies, for the project, Creativity and Human Rights: The Parque Monumento Trujillo as a Site of Consciousness.

Although both projects focused on South American countries and forms of cultural memory, they were decidedly distinct. Velasco’s project dealt with the sudden increase in documentary film popularity in Ecuador, while Pereira analyzed a memorial site in Colombia.

In the 1990s, Ecuador’s documentary film industry produced a single digit total of works. But since 1997, that number has ballooned to 187. A self-proclaimed movie buff, Velasco sought the cause of the jolt.

“There is now a massive interest in Ecuadorian film in the country,” says Velasco. “So much so, the government has been supporting it since 2006. And we need our films to create a cinematic cultural memory of our country. We are writing our history through film.”

The current boom in the film industry is due in large part to the younger generation of Ecuadorians, says Velasco. Ever since the country’s political situation stabilized, younger artists have banded together to create documentaries to compete with Hollywood. The younger artists, many of whom Velasco knows personally, triggered some sort of cinematic Renaissance. Ecuador now boasts a thriving documentary film industry.

One film Velasco focused on was Ratas, Ratones, Rateros (Rats, Mice, Thieves), a critically acclaimed gritty portrayal of Ecuador’s criminal underbelly. Velasco discovered through interviews and articles that audiences appreciated the cold, hard reality depicted in the movie. With this in mind, she decided to document the reaction to With My Heart in Yambo, a story about a Colombian immigrant family whose two children, ages 14 and 17, were tortured and killed by Ecuadorian police. The victims’ sister produced the documentary. Velasco surveyed Ecuadorian residents to gauge their reaction to the film.

“These films are part of our history and a part of our mistakes, and relate to some things that have not been solved,” Velasco says. “With this research, I hope to get across the message that things have to change.”

This desire to highlight history and affect change is what connects Velasco and Pereira.

Tragedy struck Colombia, as well. Between 1988 and 1994, the Cali Cartel, Colombian paramilitaries, and active members of the country’s military and police murdered more than 300 people near the Cauca River, including a well-known priest and many innocent farmers.

Years later, a truth and reconciliation commission suggested that a monument be built to honor the victims of those horrible murders. The Parque Monumento Trujillo, which is near completion, will consist of a mausoleum where some of the victims’ remains are buried, a garden, a mural, and a special exhibit for the murdered priest.

“I’m trying to understand the concept of this memorial,” Pereira says. “I’m trying to figure out what makes this a site of consciousness. I want to narrow down how exactly this is a reparation for the victims’ families.

Pereira used books, government and nonprofit reports, other memorial sites in neighboring countries, and a host of other materials to analyze the Trujillo monument. She capped off her research endeavor by traveling to Colombia during spring break, which ran from March 12 to 18, 2012. While there, she visited the monument and met with its creators. She presented her research in Bogota and Cali for Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, a local university. 

“This is an amazing opportunity for her to do research on the site,” says Vivancos Perez. “This probably makes the difference in writing a great paper on the topic.” 

Vivancos Perez says Pereira possesses uncanny research ability, drive, initiative, and a willingness to serve the public. He says that this project produced invaluable research for Mason and Latin America. 

“For us at Mason, it is important because we are promoting critical thinking in an ethical way,” Vivancos Perez says. “We are privileged citizens of the world living here in the United States, so it is our responsibility to be committed to helping those less fortunate. Everyone has to help the way they can, and as educators, we can disseminate information about grave human rights conditions in Latin America.” 

Rabin, Velasco’s mentor, believes the research into Ecuador’s film industry has shed some new light on the country’s ability to preserve its own history. 

“Eleana has very fruitfully situated her work at the intersection of several prominent strands of inquiry in the humanities, including Latin American film production and the study of film reception,” Rabin says. “It is a fairly new impulse to see how films were and are received by fans and filmgoers, as opposed to a more common approach, which is movie analysis.” 

Both Velasco and Pereira plan to pursue their passions into the future. Velasco would like to continue updating her study of Ecuadorian film, while Pereira is interested in a career in human rights advocacy. 

“My background is what made me have a passion for stopping injustice,” says Pereira. “Why is it that we live here so comfortably while people in other countries suffer?”