Traces And Sites Of Memory And The Making Of Counter Narratives And Places

Presented by: Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, Ph.D.

This talk examines the relationship between memory, place and social justice through an exploratory journey of traces and sites of memory in the Downtown Eastside, Strathcona and Hogan’s Alley of Vancouver. Interrogating how such traces speak of contested histories of dispossession and resistance, I examine grounded practices of social memory and place making by Indigenous, Black and other marginalized urban groups in Vancouver. The talk interrogates how these practices of memory build counternarrative spaces and temporalities, give access to silenced histories and make visible (and audible) living archives and memoryscapes. Understanding that the historical struggles that arise from loss, racism and disruption are always placed and situated, the talk seeks to generate a conversation about the transformative possibilities of memory and the significance of place making in social justice work.

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