This event is sponsored by the Tinker Fund through Stanford’s Center for Latin American Studies, with co-sponsorship from the Global Studies’ workshop “Law and Literature in the Global South,” the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and the Departments of Anthropology and Art & Art History.

More info and register here: https://www.mappingabsence.com/

Event Highlights

• Legal Perspectives: We are honored to welcome Delia Caicedo from Fundación Guagua (Cali, Colombia), who will lead a workshop on documenting cases of disappearance and human rights abuses in southwestern Colombia. Further, members from Colombia’s Unidad de búsqueda de personas dadas por desaparecidas will join eminent scholars and practitioners of international law to discuss the search for the missing and the shifting relationship between (enforced) disappearance and non-State actors.

• Artivist Perspectives and Pop-Up Exhibits: In collaboration with the Center for Latin American Studies and Adan Griego of Stanford Libraries, the event includes a pop-up exhibit featuring artivism by women searching for disappeared persons who have worked with Fundación Guagua. This will be complemented by a pop-up exhibit at Stanford’s Green Library, showcasing materials held in the university’s Special Collections from Ester Hernandez (Libertad, Tejido de desaparecidos, and Sun Mad Raisin) and Derli Romero (Rostros Migrantes and Mujeres en tránsito). In fact, Romero will join the event virtually to discuss his artivist practice. Note this will take place Monday, May 19th, 1-4 pm at  Hohbach Hall-Green Library East. Room 123.

• Film and Disappearance: Rodrigo Reyes, director of the docudrama 499, will join Martha González, a Mexican woman who recounts the search for her disappeared son in Reyes’ film, in a conversation curated by Stanford professor Ximena Briceño. 

• Interdisciplinary Presentations: Scholars will examine disappearance in philosophy, literature, law, anthropology, sociology, and history. This includes a talk by philosopher Ege Selin Islekel who connects Latin American and Turkish approaches to combating disappearance, philosopher Hershini Young, literary scholar Peter Leman, and anthropologist Promise Ejiofor.

• NB: Hybrid Format: Most activities will be accessible in person and online, ensuring broad participation and collaboration.