“Libraries for Peace” and the Public Humanities: Literature, Art and Post-Conflict in Colombia

Our project investigates how cultural practitioners from Colombia are employing the humanities to promote peace and respond to a long history of political and social violence. We intend to analyze the ways in which literary and artistic practices have been used to resist armed conflict, recover historical memory and foster nonviolence in Colombia. We will also examine how libraries are becoming new public spaces where history meets memory to promote reconciliation. Perhaps most important for the University, we consider what the Colombian experience can teach us about the role of the humanities in society.