#IAW2025 Webinar – Archives, Diverse Memories and Peacebuilding: Experiences from Communities, Territories and Identities

This talk will explore the work of the National Archives of Chile with socially marginalised communities, particularly the LGBTQ+ community and trans organisations. The current project fosters collaboration with these groups to reflect on memory and the education of younger generations through archival practice. It also highlights how the National Archives has supported members of the trans community in studying archival science—creating a space for professional dignity and growth, informed by history and memory.

Holds a BA in Art Theory and History from the University of Chile and a PhD in History from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She is currently Director of the National Archives of Chile, where she began her career in 2005. As Coordinator of the Historical National Archive, she led the creation of the Women and Gender Archive in 2011. She has served as President of ALA since 2019.

This presentation offers a critical reflection on the challenges of constructing archival public policy aimed at fostering democratic public memory. Drawing on Colombia’s experience, it analyses the tensions, opportunities and lessons learned from dialogues between the State, civil society organisations, human rights entities and ethnic communities in the context of transitional justice and peacebuilding.

Holds a PhD in Comparative, Political and Social History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is a researcher and educator involved in academic and community-based projects focused on historical memory, archives and human rights. He has worked as an advisor for institutions such as the Colombian National Centre for Historical Memory and the German cooperation agency GIZ. He is currently Deputy Director of Archival Policy at the General Archive of the Nation (Colombia), and has taught courses on Archives, Human Rights and Diversity at several universities.

This talk poses a provocative question: what do we mean by “archive”? From the perspective of Indigenous peoples, archives are not limited to paper, documents or institutional collections. They are living memory territories, shaped daily through oral tradition, experience, ancestral knowledge and historical resistance. Indigenous memory does not conform to a linear Western timeline. Instead, it exists in cycles—through nature, elder wisdom, youth activism and intergenerational ritual. Oral tradition is our archive; territory is where memory lives. Speaking of Indigenous archives thus challenges colonial silences and affirms the right to our own narratives as part of any effort towards historical justice.

An Indigenous lawyer from the Kimbaya people, Resguardo La Iberia, Caldas, Colombia. She specialises in Environmental Law and Sustainability and has held leadership roles at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, where she has advanced policies on transitional justice and territorial protection. She currently serves as Coordinator of De-Occupation at the ministry and participates in several research centres focused on human rights, global development and climate justice. Her work spans criminal, environmental, international and Indigenous law, with research interests in agrarian reform, food sovereignty and Indigenous epistemologies.

Adela holds degrees in Information Systems and Documentation, Librarianship and Archival Science from the University of La Salle, as well as in Sociology from the National University of Colombia. She also specialises in Business Management and holds a Master’s degree in Document Management and Archival Administration. With over 15 years of experience across the public and private sectors, she has held senior roles at the General Archive of the Nation, including in technical assistance, the National Archival System, and Digital Transformation. She currently lectures at the University of La Salle and works with the Directorate of Human Rights Archives at the National Centre for Historical Memory.