Lauren Darnell
PhD ’20, Romance Languages & Literatures
In 2003, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Peru released a final report on investigations of internal conflicts from 1980 to 2000. Although gender-based violence was recognized, the report excluded testimonies of the forced/coerced sterilization of approximately 300,000 women and 20,000 men—largely from rural, poor, and indigenous communities. This omission granted impunity to Alberto Fujimori’s regime, evading their responsibility for perpetuating systemic violence. In 2014, the Quipu Project was founded in collaboration with victims of forced/coerced sterilization, providing an alternative platform where these victims’ oral testimony could be heard.
The Quipu Project raises awareness of impunity and institutionalized violence in global and neoliberal frameworks, and needs the help of volunteers to translate collected testimonies, making them accessible in English, Spanish, and Quechua. As a form of expressing transnational solidarity with the victims in Peru and other parts of the world, in January of 2016 we will screen the interactive documentary developed by the Quipu Project and present a multimedia exhibition, which will display in Shapiro Library. In early February, to assist the Quipu Project with the testimonies, we will sponsor a weekend translation-solidarity event at the Language Resource Center through which we hope to connect with various locally-based solidarity networks.
Library Mentor: Gabriel Duque