Research
San Cayetano, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. 2022
Personal archive
What role has the environment played in Latin America’s history? How have past interactions among plants, animals, and people shaped the landscapes and societies we know today? How can examining these exchanges help us recover forgotten realities and amplify the voices of marginalized communities? What lessons do these relationships offer for confronting ongoing struggles and inequalities in the region?
Archival Research
Personal diary of cattle rancher in the Cauca Valley, Colombia. 1885
Private Archive of Molina Family
Draft sheet, Colombian Ministry of Justice
Archivo General de la Nación, Archivo Anexo II.
With research creativity and a trained eye, I dive deep into archival private and public collections to unearth primary information from written, graphic and cartographic sources.
Alongside grassroots organizations, I collaborate on projects that design and build community-based archival collections centered on the agendas of marginalized voices.
I also work with senior scholars to create platforms that make the historical sources behind their academic production openly accesible.
Archives are far more than repositories of ink and paper, they are vessels of memory, preserving the written traces that connect us to our past. Behind every record lies a web of deliberate choices: what deserves preservation, how it should be stored, and who gets access. These decisions, embedded in the very architecture of archival catalogues, shelves and buildings, reveal enduring power structures that have defined which histories, narratives, and institutions ought to endure the pass of time. Yet in their silences and gaps, archival records hold evidence about the diverse stories of human and non-human actors marginalized by the distribution of power.
My historical research is guided by a drive to piece together local histories of rural Latin America that emerge from the cracks of colonial archival structures. To do so, I rely on academic methodological tools and hands-on collaboration with private and community archival projects.
Historical Cartography
Cartography of the Cauca Valley, 18th century (Detail)
Archivo General de la Nación, Mapoteca 6. Ref. 98.
Among the many types of documents found in archives, old maps are my most treasured encounters. Beyond their undeniable aesthetic appeal, historical cartographies reveal multiple layers of information about how past societies related to each other and to their spaces and environments. Some contain vital clues about lost human settlements, vanished forests, or drained wetlands that once shaped the landscape. Others unveil the imaginaries and ambitions that state institutions projected onto territories, showing not just what was, but what powerful actors envisioned or desired.
Wastelands of Gachalá. Zipaquirá, 1800
Archivo General de la Nación, Mapoteca 4. Ref. 722
These cartographic artifacts are far more than navigational tools; they are windows into the social construction of space itself, revealing the complex power relations that have always shaped how we map, claim, and transform our world.
In my historical research, I decode the rich information embedded in old maps through contextualized qualitative analysis and bringing past landscapes back to life using digital mapping tools for geospatial reconstruction.
I'm also passionate about curating historical cartography collections that make these captivating sources accessible for both teaching and broader public engagement.
Agricultural land use in Fontibón, 1936
Archivo General de la Nación, Mapoteca 2. Ref. 1237
Oral History
Etching by De Riou based on Edouard André's travel diary.
In: Le Tour du Monde, Paris, 1877. V.XXXIV, 59.
Not all historical information lies buried under mountains of dusty papers in archives. A significant part of history remains vibrantly alive through the oral traditions of families, communities, and institutions. These stories and memories are not only fundamental for reconstructing and analyzing the past from diverse perspectives, but they also form the living tapestry that shapes the present and future of societies.
At the Center for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University in Montreal, I am currently immersing myself in the approaches and tools needed to collaborate with communities in collecting and curating their oral histories, learning how to honor these voices while making them accessible for generations to come.