Our previous activities
GUMELAB at the Conference on Digital History & Citizen Science in Halle, September 20, 2024
From September 19 to 22, the Martin Luther University in Halle hosted the conference „Digital History & Citizen Science“. At the event, Hannah Müssemann presented the paper "Measuring Historical Consciousness and Civic Education through TV Series Using Digital Methods in Social Media: A Methodological Approach," which she prepared in collaboration with Alesson Rota, visiting scholar from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, and Mónika Contreras.
The conference was organized by the Working Group on Digital History of the Association of German Historians, the Association for Computer Genealogy, NFDI4Memory, Archion and ICARUS e.V., the Historical Commission of Saxony-Anhalt, the Institute for Regional History (Saxony-Anhalt), and the State Heritage Association of Saxony-Anhalt.
Presentation at the Second Colloquium on Library Science and History: Methodologies and Challenges of the Digital Age, organized by the Asociación Interdisciplinaria para el Estudio de la Historia de México, A.C., on August 22, 2024.
Hannah Müssemann participated in the Second Colloquium on Library Science and History: Methodologies and Challenges of the Digital Age, organized by the Asociación Interdisciplinaria para el Estudio de la Historia de México, A.C. (Interdisciplinary Association for the Study of Mexican History). In her presentation titled “Analyzing the Reception of Telenovelas and Series Online: The Experiences of the GUMELAB Project”, she discussed the digital dynamics surrounding the reception of such content and explored how social networks can be utilized as historical sources.
The colloquium, held from August 20 to 22, 2024, provided a platform for sharing work and experiences, fostering discussions on the challenges related to the production, storage, and dissemination of information in historical and library science contexts. The presentations can be accessed here.
Two presentations by GUMELAB at the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in Bogotá, 12 to 15 June 2014
GUMELAB was represented at this year's international LASA congress with two presentations. Mónika Contreras spoke on the panel “Recognising, confronting and combating regressive tendencies in Iberoamerica through television fiction", which was organised by our cooperation partner Lorena Antezana Barrios from the Universidad de Chile, on the Colombian armed conflict in series and telenovelas and their different narratives about the past. Hannah Müssemann presented on the panel "Narratives of contemporary history in Latin America: Colombia, Mexico and Brazil", which was organised by Tamy I. Cenamo of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, presented her research on the different ways in which Siege of the Palace of Justice and the violent military counterattack on 6 and 7 November 1985 are portrayed in telenovelas and series and their impact on the formation of collective memories.
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the world's largest professional organisation for individuals and institutions conducting research on Latin America.
Lecture at the Margins in Latin American Studies Conference at the University of Oxford, 17-19 June 24
Holle Meding presented her PhD project at the University of Oxford and gave a talk on "Political echo chambers and filter bubbles in Chilean memory culture on social media" at the Latin American Centre and Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities. The lecture shed light on the complex dynamic processes that shape the digital culture of remembrance in Chile and examined how media can influence public perception and collective memory.
Screening of the film "Un lugar llamado Dignidad" and discussion with director Matías Rojas Valencia, May 23, 2023
On May 23, at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, the screening of the Chilean film "Un lugar llamado Dignidad" took place, which delves into the history of the German sect Colonia Dignidad . The film tells the story of Pablo, a twelve-year-old boy who becomes the favorite of the leader, Uncle Paul, and over time witnesses the strangest things happening in the colony. Following the screening, a discussion was held with director and screenwriter Matías Rojas Valencia and psychologist and Colonia Dignidad expert, Evelyn Hevia Jordán.
Tandem exchange Juan Pablo Sánchez Sepúlveda in Berlin, 25.12.23-27.01.24
From December 2023 to January 2024, Juan Pablo Sánchez Sepúlveda (PhD candidate in Communication Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), conducted a research stay at the Freie Universität Berlin and prepared the article "Political Echoes: The historical fiction around the Chilean dictatorship in the digital era" as part of the tandem collaboration with Holle Meding, which will appear in the journal História Unisinos in 2024.
Screening with a Colombian delegation, event at the German Cinematheque - Museum of Film and Television, organised by the CAPAZ Institute and GUMELAB, 14.12.2023
A Colombian delegation participated in the event "Tackling the Past of State Crimes: Collective Memory and Historical-Political Education in a Transregional Dialogue between Colombia and Germany", organised by the Justus Liebig University Giessen and the German-Colombian Peace Institute CAPAZ. The delegation consisted of professors, activists, members of truth commissions and observers of the peace negotiations in Colombia. GUMELAB organised with them a screening and guided tour at the German Cinematheque - Film and Television Museum, which focused on political education through the media. Scenes from three different Colombian series, which tell the story of the Siege of the Palace of Justice and the violent military counterattack on 6 and 7 November 1985, were shown from different perspectives, and the possible impact on a national and international audience was discussed with the participants. The event is part of the transfer activity of the GUMELAB project and was made possible thanks to the cooperation with the German-Colombian Peace Institute CAPAZ.
"Intertextuality in the analysis of historical TV-series” (La Intertextualidad en el análisis de las series históricas), XV Coloquium on Research and Creation,, recorded at the Television Studio of the FCEI, Universidad de Chile
Our cooperation partners from the Faculty of Communication and Image of the Universidad de Chile summarised methodological findings from the analysis of the eight-part series and case study of the GUMELAB project Dignity at the fifteenth Creación 2023 Research Colloquium entitled "Intertextuality in the analysis of historical TV-series". To this end, an (operational) model was systematised that takes into account the relationships between this production and other texts, such as other fiction books, investigative journalism, films, documentaries and television reports. The focus was to identify the shared meanings and audiovisual commonalities that are consolidated over time and according to the sensibility of the time about Colonia Dignidad. The research is part of the cooperation with the GUMELAB project and was presented by our partners Eduardo Santa Cruz and Lorena Antezana Barrios and moderated by Claudia Lagos. The colloquium took place on 13 December at the Television Studios of the Faculty of Communication and Image of the University of Chile and can be viewed on the YouTube channel.
"Any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence: Broadcasting and reception of Latin American Contested Pasts in Telenovelas and Series, 1970-2023"- GUMELAB at the Documenta Institute in Kassel, 07.12.2023.
In the event series "Contested Memories in the Global South", organised by Prof. Dr. Liliana Gomez (Art and Society) and Prof. Dr. Kristina Dietz (International Relations with special focus on Latin America) at the Documenta Institute in Kassel, Mónika Contreras Saiz spoke in her lecture "Any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence: Broadcasting and reception of contested Latin American pasts in soap operas and series, 1970-2023" about the connection between memories, the processing of traumas in recent Latin American history and their representation in series and telenovelas. The presentation of the GUMELAB project at this event allowed for an intellectual and interdisciplinary dialogue between students and experts.
Participation in the conference Data Cultures, Data Literacy and Historical Learning on 07-08.12.2023
Holle Meding participated in the conference Data Cultures, Data Literacy and Historical Learning, organized by NFDI4Memory in cooperation with the Konferenz für Geschichtsdidaktik. Her contribution was part of the panel "Research with Data". In her presentation, she addressed the challenges and potentials of analyzing mass data in social networks - a central component of the GUMELAB project.
Presentation of Hannah Müssemann's doctoral project at the colloquium on Latin American history, 05.12.2023
Our project researcher Hannah Müssemann presented the topic of her doctoral thesis at the colloquium on Latin American history, which is chaired by Stefan Rinke. In her dissertation entitled "Historical Consciousness and Transnational Images of Memory: The Reception of Telenovelas and Series with Themes of Contemporary Colombian History among Migrant:s in the USA", she examines the impact that Colombian series and telenovelas have on the view of the past in the Latin American migrant community in the USA.
PhD student tandem activity at the conference "Redefining Televisuality: Programmes, Practices, Methods" at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg
From 25 - 27 October 2023, the two PhD students Consuelo Ábalos (University of Chile) and Hannah Müssemann (Freie Universität Berlin, GUMELAB) participated in the conference "Redefining Televisuality: Programmes, Practices, Methods" at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. The two doctoral students support each other's research in the tandem programme and help each other out from the perspective of a different discipline (communication studies and history).
The conference was attended by scholars working on series and televisuality as well as Netflix algorithms and reception studies. Consuelo Ábalos presented a paper on the first Chilean Netflix series "42 dias en la oscuridad”.
Screening of the documentary "Breaking the Brick", 12.10.23
The documentary "Breaking the Brick", directed by Carola Fuentes and Rafa Valdeavellano, was presented at the Human Rights Film Festival in Berlin in October. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director in English, moderated by Hannah Müsseman.
Presentation at Miami Dade College, 28.09.2023
In a seminar unit "Introduction to Sociology" by Dr Alejandro Angee, Hannah Müssemann and Mónika Contreras presented the GUMELAB project at Miami Dade College. They discussed the portrayal of corruption and impunity in the series Narcos and the influence of the drug trade in Miami with the students.
Presentation of the GUMELAB project at Iona University, New York, 14.09.2023
In a seminar unit on drug trafficking and the fight against drugs in Latin America at Iona University in New York, led by historian Jimena Perry, Mónika Contreras and Hannah Müssemann presented the GUMELAB project and discussed with the students the portrayal of corruption and drug trafficking in the series Narcos and other Latin American productions.
GUMELAB Conference "Latin America's Contested Pasts in Telenovelas and TV Series" at the German Historical Institute, Washington D.C., 7 and 8 September 2023
Together with our cooperation partners from the German Historical Institute, GUMELAB hosted the international, inter- and transdisciplinary conference " Latin America's Contested Pasts in Telenovelas and TV Series. A Cross-Sector Dialogue between Academia, Entertainment and Society ", at which strategic issues relating to the communication of history in entertainment media were discussed. Further information and insights into the conference can be found here.
An interdisciplinary conversation about & screening of the German-Chilean TV Series “Dignity” - September 07, 2023
The Goethe-Institut Washington invited to an interdisciplinary discussion about and a film screening of the German-Chilean television series Dignity. The screening took place as part of the conference “Latin America's Contested Pasts in Telenovelas and TV Series. A Cross-Sector Dialogue between Academia, Entertainment and Society”, held in Washington D.C. between September 07-08 and organized by the German Historical Institute and GUMELAB. In the event, the producers María Elena Wood (idea and executive producer, Wood Producciones, Chile), Andreas Gutzeit (head writer and executive producer, Story House Productions, Germany) and Stefan Rinke (Free University of Berlin, GUMELAB) talked about the German-Chilean production Dignity (Joyn 2019 - Mega, 2020) and discussed the relation between fiction and reality.
Click here for further information and visual insights of the event.
Visit of the guest scientist Thiago Nicodemo, 10.07.-10.08.2023
During his stay, our cooperation partner Thiago Nicodemo, Director General of the State Archive of São Paulo, Professor of Theory of History at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP (Campinas, Brazil), where he is responsible for the Center for Digital Humanities, spoke about the digitization of historical archives. Among other things, Thiago Nicodemo assisted GUMELAB with theoretical considerations on the use of digital methods in the e-research component to collect data from social networks such as Twitter and YouTube.
Presentation of the master students of the tandem program GUMELAB, 18.07.2023.
Students Catalina Brunetti, Stephany Ortega, and Valentina Mendez Höcherl presented their master's thesis, which they are writing as part of the Interdisciplinary Latin American Studies master's program, at the Latin American History Colloquium, chaired by Stefan RinkeCatalina and Stephany conducted research in Chile and Colombia as part of the GUMELAB tandem program. Valentina did an internship in the GUMELAB project in early 2023. The three are writing their master's thesis in the GUMELAB project on series and telenovelas, such as Los 80, Narcos and Pablo Escobar - El Patrón del Mal.
Visit of fellows Heisman Arcila and Gicela Aguirre, 10.06.2023-10.07.2023
Together with Heisman Arcila and Gicela Aguirre, two visiting researchers from the University of Antioquia (Medellín-Colombia), we held internal workshops on the creation of a manual for applying digital methods in social science projects such as GUMELAB. We also discussed the project’s e-research component during the workshops, as well as the methodological opportunities and challenges from analyzing data from Twitter and YouTube regarding the reception of telenovelas and series.
Participation in the seventh annual conference of the Memory Studies Association in Newcastle, England, 3-7.07.23
Mónika Contreras Saiz participated in the seventh Memory Studies Association Conference in Newcastle 2023 held from July 3rd to 7th. Her contribution was part of the panel titled "Memorial Landscapes: Between Fictions, Images, and Bonds." During her presentation, Mónika Contreras Saiz addressed a relevant topic in the world of memory studies: the role of victims in shaping narratives in TV series and telenovelas. Her speech shed light on how victims can wield significant agency in the staging of these productions, influencing how stories are told and past events are represented.
Screening Dignity in Siegburg on 16.06.2023
On Friday, 06/16/2013, GUMELAB hosted a screening of the German-Chilean TV series Dignity (2019/2020), which stages the story of the foreign German settlement Colonia Dignidad. The series screening was followed by a discussion. Colonia Dignidad has its roots in North Rhine-Westphalia (Siegkreis) and the event was attended by people from the local area to discuss the history and the portrayal in the series.
"Ecosistema de la producción ficcional en Chile", Fifth Coloquium on Research and Development, recorded at the Television Studio of the Faculty of Communication and Image of the Universidad de Chile, 14.06.2023
Fictional television series that deal with themes, characters, problems or episodes about memory and history in Chile are high-quality audiovisual productions that perform an important social function for the country. Therefore, it is important that actors (public and private) design, implement, and improve policies, tools, and structures that promote the production and wide dissemination of this type of product. Based on interviews with key informants from Chilean public and private organizations, as well as secondary sources related to the production and realization of this type of works, we have worked with our partners from the Faculty of Communication and Image of the Universidad de Chile to identify the main strengths and weaknesses that characterize the ecosystem of audiovisual production in general and in the field of works about memory, history or fiction. Since this is an international comparative study, we also explored points of comparison with other Latin American experiences. The colloquium was moderated by scholars Claudia Lagos and Lorena Antezana from the Department of Communication and Image. The recording of the event "Ecosistema de la producción ficcional en Chile" can be viewed here on the YouTube channel of the faculty.
Presentation of the PhD project of our visiting scholar Alesson Rota in the Colloquium on Latin American History, 13.06.2023.
Our visiting scholar Alesson Rota from the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP from Brazil presented his PhD thesis in the Colloquium of Latin American History, chaired by Stefan Rinke. For his dissertation topic, "Intellectual Networks and Pan-Americanism: relations between writing of history and politics in the Southern Cone," he works with digital methods, such as the digitization of historical archives. He is part of the Center for Digital Humanities at the same institution.
Colloquium Cinema and Human Rights: Resistance from the Audiovisual, 06-07.06.2023
On July 06 and 07, GUMELAB participated in the colloquium of the Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez on "Cinema and Human Rights: Resistance from the Audiovisual". The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile. Our colleague Hannah Müssemann spoke about the work with Chilean telenovelas and series of memory and presented, among others, the Chilean series Los 80 and talked about the reception in Chilean exile in the USA.
GUMELAB at the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Vancouver, Canada, 24-27.05.23
Within the framework of the XLI LASA International Congress, Mónika Contreras Saiz was part of the panel entitled "Keys to understand complex scenarios from the Ibero-American fictional production". This panel brought together various experts in the field of television fiction studies, many of whom are members of OBITEL (Observatorio Iberoamericano de la Ficción Televisiva). During her intervention, Mónika Contreras Saiz presented the GUMELAB research project and generated an enriching debate on the relationship between Latin American memorial processes and the creation of fictions that portray the recent past.
Participation in the status meeting of the BMBF funding line Regional Studies, Bonn, 27-28.04.2023
At the network meeting organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at the University Club in Bonn at the end of April, the GUMELAB project presented the focus of its research and got into conversation with other projects in the Regional Studies funding line about the opportunities and challenges of science communication.
GUMELAB at FILBO - Bogotá International Book Fair 2023: Exploring History Through Fiction, 24.04.2023
On April 24, 2023, GUMELAB had the honor of being invited to participate in the prestigious Bogotá International Book Fair (FILBO) in Colombia. The event took place at the booth of the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, and it marked a significant occasion for the presentation of the GUMELAB project. Professor Carolina Galindo, a faculty member at the University of Rosario and an associated researcher with GUMELAB, led this presentation. Before an enthusiastic and diverse audience, Professor Galindo addressed the challenges and complexities involved in the process of learning history through fiction. GUMELAB's participation in the Bogotá International Book Fair 2023 was a testament to its commitment to knowledge dissemination and open dialogue regarding the role of fiction as a means of conveying history.
Presentation of Holle Meding's PhD project at the Colloquium on Latin American History, 18.04.2023
Our colleague Holle Meding presented her PhD project entitled "Between Commercialization and Discursive Hegemony. The Military Dictatorship in Chile in Films and Historical Series" at the Colloquium of Latin American History, directed by Stefan Rinke.
Workshop „Gender-sensitive research on audiovisual entertainment media and social movements”, 14.04.2023
How can social movements and audiovisual formats be analysed from a gender perspective? In a workshop, PhD students Jacqueline Johana Peña Cañas (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Eichstätt/ Universidad Carlos III Madrid) and Alexandre Nogueira Martins (Freie Universität Berlin, Temporalities of the Future) presented their research approaches. Our scholarship holders from the Tandem Programme, the GUMELAB team and the guest researcher Alesson Rota took part in the interdisciplinary workshop.
Workshop WONAGO and GUMELAB "The representation of Latin American history in non-academic cultural media", 20.04.2023
Together with the BMBF-funded collaborative project WONAGO (World Order Narratives of the Global South), we organised a workshop in Berlin on 20 April 2023 on the representation of Latin American history in non-academic cultural media. The focus was on concrete historical events and their representation in telenovelas, series and solidarity posters and the relations between different world regions. The WONAGO project is led by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mücke and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer and is between the University of Hamburg and the GIGA Institute (German Institute of Global Area Studies).
The programme can be found here.
GUMELAB participates in the tv program Defensor del Televidente (Viewer's Advocate) of Channel 1 in Colombia, 08.02.23
The stories told by television are important to understand the culture and the society that television portrays. Recent history has often served as inspiration for fiction. How represented do audiences feel with telenovelas and series that tell their own story? GUMELAB project leader Mónika Contreras Saiz and Carolina Galindo Hernández (Universidad del Rosario), together with other guest experts on the subject, were discussing this topic in the program Defensor del Televidente (Viewer's Advocate) in the Colombian TV channel Canal 1.
See the program here.
Colombia's Ongoing Peace Process. Representations of Memory Works in Entertainment Media & Popular Culture, seminar session at the Latin America Institute, 16.12.2022
In the seminar "Theories, Concepts and Methods of Historical Studies: Contemporary History and Memory in Latin America" at the Institute for Latin American Studies, led by Antonio Monte, Mónika Contreras and Hannah Müssemann presented current forms of memory in Colombian entertainment media and popular culture. The topics included series such as Distrito Salvaje, the role of theatre and cinema and the work of the Colombian Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Recurrence.
"How to tell the memory of drug trafficking in Medellín?", event on the life of Pablo Escobar's personal photographer, 07.12.2022
At the lecture ¿Cómo narrar la memoria del narcotráfico en Medellín? La vida del fotógrafo personal de Pablo Escobar (“How to tell the memory of drug trafficking in Medellín? The life of Pablo Escobar's personal photographer”), author Alfonso Buitrago Londoño (NarcosLab, Medellín) presented his biographical book on Édgar Jiménez Mendoza, Pablo Escobar's personal photographer. The book tells the story of Jiménez, also nicknamed “El Chino”, and contrasts his close relationship with Pablo Escobar with the violent history of the Medellín cartel. Our project director Mónika Contreras Saiz commented the session. Often are used many photographs of Pablo Escobar as archival footage in series and telenovelas. Examples are Narcos and Pablo Escobar - El Patrón del Mal, whose reception we analyze in the GUMELAB project.
Read more about the book and click here for the event’s poster.
Online event (in Spanisch) "Telenovelas and series: the new history teachers?" with IFPH Explorers and Transmedia HistoryTelling, 07.12.2022
Transmedia HistoryTelling and IFPH Explorers organized an event together to talk about memory, telenovelas and the transfer of history. For this, the GUMELAB team, Dr. Mónika Contreras and researchers Hannah Müssemann and Holle Meding talked about the transmission of historical knowledge through telenovelas and series, methodologies for the study of memory and the project's experiences in communicating research to diverse audiences. Specifically, they discussed the case studies “Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal” (2012), “Tres Caínes” (2013), “Narcos” (2015-2017), “Los 80s” (2008-2014) y “Dignity” (2019).
The event was broadcast live on Facebook and Youtube and can still be viewed there.
The role of regional studies in the GUMELAB project ̶ Presentation at the Institute for Latin American Studies, 05.12.2022
What does it mean to engage in academia and research in the field of regional studies? Within the framework of the project module "Area Studies as a Project - Perspectives for the History, Present and Future of Latin American Studies" by Dr. Karina Kriegesmann, students discuss the historical constitution, the relevance of regional studies and the possible career prospects of regional scientists. The GUMELAB project was invited to talk about the role of regional studies within the project. The research is made possible by the BMBF funding guidelines "Understanding Society ̶ Designing the Future", which fund regional studies projects.
GUMELAB participated in the conference “#History on Social Media – Sources, Methods, Ethics”, 11. - 12.11.22
Hannah Müssemann spoke at the conference “#History on Social Media - Sources, Methods, Ethics” about the challenges encountered so far by the GUMELAB project in working with digital methods. This includes the issues of Big Data, of transparency in Digital Humanities projects, and of working in an interdisciplinary approach with the team of physicists from the Institute of Physics and the Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics Group (GFTyMA) of the University of Antioquia.
The international conference was organized by the Social Media History project in collaboration between the University of Bochum and the University of Hamburg. The conference took place between November 11 and 12 online.
The presentation can be seen here.
More information about the program.
Screening of the documentary film "Special circumstances", 01.11.22
On November 1st at 6 pm at the Institute for Latin American Studies of the Freie Universität, the Chilean documentary "Special Circumstances" by Héctor Salgado was screened. Afterwards there was a discussion in Spanish moderated by Hannah Müsseman, during which the director of the documentary was present.
Presentation of the GUMELAB project at the Red Nacional de Licenciaturas en Historia y sus Cuerpos Académicos RENALIHCA, 28.10.2022
On October 28, 2022, Prof. Dr. Stefan Rinke and Hannah Müssemann presented the GUMELAB project at the annual congress of the Mexican Red Nacional de Licenciaturas en Historia y sus Cuerpos Académicos RENALIHCA. Under the title "Educación, patrimonio, memoria e internacionalización de las IES", representatives from twenty Mexican universities throughout the country spoke about the academic discipline of history. The congress took place in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico and was broadcast online.
Presentation of the GUMELAB project at the Universidad de los Andes, 24.10.2022
On October 28, 2022, Holle Meding presented the GUMELAB project at the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia). In Prof. Dr. Tatjana Louis' seminar "Memory and popular culture", she dialogued with students about the media representation of the GDR and the memory discourses of different generations. Adapted from the Instagram project @ichbinsophiescholl, course members created student representative Marita Meier from East Berlin.
Read more.
Remembering and Traveling #5, "The Drug Trade and the Salsa Boom in Cali," Cali, 15.10.22
The fifth dialogue trip was about the role of music for the city of Cali, the "capital of salsa". We talked with music students, musicians and experts of Salsa about the representation of music in telenovelas and series. We explored the question of why salsa was so important to the Cali cartel. How did music reinforce power structures? Among others, it was about the representations in the third season of Narcos, Pablo Escobar - El Patrón del Mal, En la Boca del Lobo and El Cartel de los Sapos: El origen.
More information.
Remembering and Traveling, "Garzón Vive" with students of the Universidad del Rosario about the life of Jaime Garzón in reality and fiction, 12.10.2022
Students of the Universidad del Rosario, together with our cooperation partner Carolina Galindo, developed a travel of dialogue through Bogotá. This focused on the life of journalist, politician, activist and comedian Jaime Garzón, who was assassinated by paramilitaries on Aug. 13, 1999. His life was portrayed in 2018 in the telenovela Garzón Vive of the Colombian television channel RCN. During the travel of dialogue, we visited places that were important both in real life and in the partially fictionalized portrayal of Jaime Garzón in the telenovela. The theme was the sometimes fine lines between reality and fiction and the effects on viewers who did not experience that moment of history themselves. The students found the concept of “travels of dialogue” as a transfer measure inspiring. Therefore, we are happy that we as the GUMELAB team were allowed to be part of the activity.
Remembering and Traveling #4 "Affected. But Invisible.", Bogotá, 11.10.22
On October 11, the fourth travel of dialogue took place in Bogotá. Former street dwellers designed the route for the dialogue trip to show the "invisible" Bogotá - the city from the perspective of people who have no permanent home. As trainers with the organization Idipron, they work to get people off the streets and give them back their rights. The travel of dialogue addressed the absent or instrumentalizing representation of homelessness in series and telenovelas. Follow-up workshops were offered on the analysis of films and series and topics such as citizenship and critical media consumption. This event was created in close collaboration with trainers from Idipron, Kalia Ronderos (Asociación Caompania La Otra), and our collaborative partners Carolina Galindo (Universidad del Rosario) and Tatjana Louis (Universidad de los Andes).
More information.
"Remembering & Travelling #3 "Experiences of resistance in the north-western area of Medellín 1990 - 2000", Medellín, 08.10.2022
In the third travel of dialogue "Remembering and Traveling" in Medellín we visited with students of the Colegio Copacabana different places in Medellín, which stand for the resistance against drug trafficking and violence by the Medellín Cartel. The travel of dialogue was conceived and carried out together with our cooperation partners Gicela Andrea Aguirre García and Víctor Casas (Universidad de Antioquia). We visited places and organizations that help young people in Medellín to get out of structures of violence.
More information.
Workshop at Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, 06.-07.10.2022
On October 6th - 7th, together with our cooperation partners from the Universidad de Antioquia, the Institute of Physics and the Group of Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics (GTFyMA), we organized the workshop “Investigar telenovelas y series sobre la historia reciente en Colombia, Chile y Brasil con métodos digitales y cualitativos: sobre el desarrollo, el uso y los desafíos” (“Conducting research with digital and qualitative methods on telenovelas and series about the recent history in Colombia, Chile and Brazil: on the development, application and challenges”). Through the work in the GUMELAB project with social networks, which are understood as a space for memory research and transformation, the international and interdisciplinary workshop aimed to exchange, discuss, and connect different disciplines that work with digital research methods (e-research) and/or telenovelas and series. The benefits of e-research for social science projects were particularly discussed. Among others, we had contributions by our cooperation partners from Chile (Dr. Lorena Antezana Barrios), from Colombia (Leonardo A. Pachón Contreras, Gicela Andrea Aguirre García, Carolina Galindo Hernández, Prof. Dr. Tatjana Louis, Edward Goyeneche-Gómez, Enrique Uribe-Jongbloed) and Brazil (Roberto Abdala Júnior). Keynote speaker Jaime Borja (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) spoke about the ARCA digital project, which digitizes colonial art and makes it available as an online archive.
The full program can be viewed here.
GUMELAB panel at the 6th World Conference of the International Federation for Public History (IFPH), 16. - 20.08.2022
The 6th World Conference of the International Federation for Public History (IFPH) was held at the Free University of Berlin from August 16-20, 2022. The GUMELAB project organized a panel entitled "History Transfer through Telenovelas and Series in Latin America" on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, and presented its first research findings on the reception of telenovelas de la memoria. Prof. Dr. Stefan Rinke moderated the panel and June Carolyn Erlick (David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University), author of the book Telenovelas in Pan-Latino Context commented on the presentations of Dr. Mónika Contreras Saiz, Hannah Müssemann and Holle Meding. The conference program can be found here.
Visit of the guest scientist Tatjana Louis, 15.06.2022-15.07.2022
With Prof. Dr. Tatjana Louis of the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá – Colombia) we were able to develop theoretical categorizations of the thematic blocks of historical consciousness and memory images. This helps to understand the influence of telenovelas and series on viewers and their understanding of history.
Contribution of Hannah Müssemann to the seminar “Memorias (trans)nacionales en el espacio transnacional - La Memoria del Otro”, 29.09.2022
Hannah Müssemann held the class “Memorias (trans)nacionales en el espacio transnacional - La Memoria del Otro” on September 21, 2022, as part of the seminar Telenovelas de la Memoria of our cooperation partner Tatjana Louis from the Universidad de los Andes. We talked with students about the perception of Pablo Escobar in a global context, as well as about the representation of different narratives about the Palace of Justice siege (November 6 and 7, 1985) in series such as Narcos and Pablo Escobar - El Patrón del Mal.
Presentation of the research project GUMELAB at the Latin America Institute, 13.07.2022
In this event, the students could learn which research projects are currently being carried out at the Latin America Institute, on which thematic focuses research is being conducted there and how they can get involved in the research projects, e.g. by doing an internship or writing a master's thesis in the GUMELAB project.
Attendance at the Iberseries & Platino Industria in Madrid, 27. - 30.09.2022
The international event Iberseries & Platino Industria was held in Madrid from September 27-30, 2022. This is the largest event for producers, filmmakers and experts in the Ibero-American region. It aimed to promote feature films and fictional series related to Spain, Portugal or Latin America, and to encourage talent in the audiovisual sector. GUMELAB was invited by the organizers to present the first research results at Iberseries & Platino Industria and to get in touch with series producers.
At the panel „Las historias que nos cuentan. Cine e Historia” (The stories they tell us. Film and history) we talked with Chilean producer Maria Elena Wood (Noticias de un Secuestro, Dignity, Mary & Mike) and Spanish screenwriter Alberto Macías (Cuéntame cómo pasó) about the role of fiction. What challenges and opportunities arise when Ibero-American history is told in television series?
Learn more about the program and about Iberseries & Platino Industria.
Image Credit: Juan Carlos Lucas
Digital conference "Series ficcionales, historia y memorias sobre el pasado reciente en América Latina", 07.07.22
Our project director, Mónika Contreras Saíz, together with our research partner Lorena Antezana Barrios and the professor Luis Manuel Fernández Martínez, leaded the online conference Series ficcionales, historia y memorias sobre el pasado reciente en América Latina, which was organized by the Universidad a Distancia de Madrid. The conference was held on Thursday, July 7. The conference discussed how fictional series about the recent past in Latin America influence the public's historical consciousness and their and political education.
4th International Symposium of the Elisabeth Käsemann Foundation - "Colonia Dignidad. A German-Chilean History from the Perspectives of Science, Legal Processing and Public Staging, 22. - 24.06.2022
From June 22-24, 2022, Holle Meding participated in the 4th International Symposium of the Elisabeth Käsemann Foundation - "Colonia Dignidad. A German-Chilean History from the Perspectives of Science, Legal Processing and Public Staging“- at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. She gave the lecture "Tracing the origins of the Colonia Dignidad: Paul Schäfer and the Private Sociale Mission" and traced the early phase of the Colonia Dignidad as well as the first productions of image films and propaganda material.
Visit of the guest scientist Omar Rincón, 01.06.2022.-30.06.2021
The research visit of Prof. Dr. Omar Rincón of the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá - Colombia) focused on the mediation and reception of entertainment media. The focus was on political communication strategies in series and telenovelas depicting the recent Colombian past.
Image Credit: © César Sánchez Carreño, El Tiempo. Link: https://capsulas.com.co/win-no-hay-mas-omar-rincon-el-tiempo/
Presentation of the GUMELAB project at the inaugural symposium of the Ada Lovelace Center for Digital Humanities, 03.06.2022
The Ada Lovelace Center for Digital Humanities is an interdisciplinary institution of Freie Universität Berlin. It combines projects from the departments of history and cultural studies, philosophy and humanities, mathematics, and computer science that work with digital methods. At the opening symposium, GUMELAB was able to present its research method for collecting and analyzing data from tweets and YouTube comments. There was also an exchange on working with artificial intelligence with our cooperation partners from aureka and other projects of the Freie Universität Berlin, such as the research group Kolleg cinepoetics. The program of the event can be found here.
Visit of the guest scientist Carolina Galindo, 03.05.2022-03.06.2022
Together with Prof. Dr. Carolina Galindo from the Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia), it was possible to develop theoretical conceptualizations of political education during her research stay. This helps GUMELAB to understand the influence of telenovelas and series on political values.
Presentation by Holle Meding "Propaganda, Sensationalismus, Entertainment. Die Colonia Dignidad als mediales Phänomen", 16.6.2022
Within the framework of the publication of the interview platform "Colonia Dignidad. A Chilean-German oral history archive", our colleague Holle Meding, spoke about the way in which Colonia Dignidad is portrayed in the media.
More information about the event here.
BMBF Network Meeting "Crisis and Reorganization" (GIGA Institute, BMBF, University of Hamburg), 12-14.06.2022
At the network meeting "Crisis and Reordering", organized by the University of Hamburg, the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 13-14 June 2022 in Hamburg, we were able to engage in a lively exchange with other third-party funded projects funded by the BMBF and exchange ideas on appropriate transfer measures. GUMELAB presented a poster on past dialogue tours (Dialogreisen) in Chile, which can be found here.
More information about the event.
Gumelab participated in the third episode of VoxPopuli.
We participated in this project of our partners German-Colombian Peace Institute- CAPAZ. Mónika Contreras Saiz, one of our project leaders, and Julián Román, Colombian actor and activist, answered questions from citizens about the relationship between Telenovelas, memory, and the historical education that has been created in Colombia thanks to the entertainment industry.
You can watch the full episode here.
Gumelab participated in the Latinamerika Film Forum, 06.05.22
We talked in the film forum about the different representations of the 1985 siege of the Palace of Justice in Colombia in the series Pablo Escobar el Patron del Mal and Narcos .
Forum for discussion and telenovelas: Entre la realidad y la ficción: Telenovelas y conflicto en Colombia, 07.04.22
Together with our cooperation partners German Colombian Peace Institute - CAPAZ, the Asociación Nuevo Agrupamiento por la Paz D.C. - ANA and the Universidad del Rosario, we organized a forum of conversation and telenovelas under the title “Entre la realidad y la ficción: Telenovelas y conflicto en Colombia” on April 7, 2022 at La Roja - Casa Cultural in Bogotá. After a screening of individual scenes from the Colombian telenovela Tres Caines, the discussion addressed the question of how the Colombian guerrillas are portrayed.
Remembering & travelling #2: “Los 80 in Santiago’s downtown – protests and the economic model”, 24.03.2022
Together with students of the fields film, communications and journalism from the Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano and the Universidad Santiago de Chile, as well as with our cooperation partners of the Institute of Communication and Image at the Universidad de Chile, the second dialogue journey took place in Santiago’s city center on Thursday, March 24, 2022. The subject was the Chilean series Los 80 and the role of each setting for the fictional plot, as well for Chile’s history and present. More information here.
Workshop “Telenovelas and memory images in Latin America”, 21.-22.03.22
Together with our partners from the Institute of Communication and Image at the Universidad de Chile, we organized a workshop on “Telenovelas and Memory Images in Latin America” in Santiago de Chile during March 21-22, 2022. The goal of this interdisciplinary workshop was to present and discuss the first results of our research. In particular, the workshop addressed the issue of how memory images can be analyzed within the South American context, as well as how they are addressed by Latin American telenovelas. Among other things, it was about the treatment of the Chilean and Brazilian military dictatorships in telenovelas such as Los 80 or Anos Rebeldes, as well as how Colombian history is addressed in national and international productions. The participants were researchers and cooperation partners from Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Germany and Spain.
Click here for the full program (Spanish).
Remembering & travelling #1: “(In)visible images of the Dictatorship in Tocopilla”, 16.03.2022
On Wednesday, March 16, 2022, in collaboration with the Universidad de Chile, the first dialogue journey took place in Tocopilla, under the title “Remembering & Traveling: (In)visible Images of the Dictatorship in Tocopilla”. With students of the Liceo Polivalente Domingo Latrille, different places in the city were visited and we discussed the representation of the history of the Chilean North in telenovelas and series. More information here.
Presentation: Cultures of Digital Memory - 8th annual meeting of the Digital Humanities Association in the German speaking world, 07. - 11.03.2022
We gladly participated in the Cultures of Digital Memory conference for the 8th annual meeting of the Digital Humanities Association in the German-speaking world. The conference was organized by the University of Potsdam and the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. At the poster session on Thursday, March 10th, 2022, we presented our research project with the presentation Analysis of the reception of telenovelas and series about Latin American history through algorithms. On this occasion, we focused the presentation on our work with digital methods. Click here for the program.
Presentation: De los 80 al presente, 24.02.2022
As part of GUMELAB, scenes from the Chilean series "Los 80" were screened at the La Peña Cultural Center on the 24th of February in a discussion event, to which the Chilean community in California was invited. The screening was followed by a conversation about the experiences, memories, and opinions of those present regarding Chile's recent history.
CAPAZ School of Online Courses
Together with our cooperation partners from the Universidad de los Andes, the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, and the Interdisciplinary Network for Memory Studies in Latin America - MemoriAL, GUMELAB participated in the CAPAZ School of Online Courses. We have designed the course "Historical Cultures in Germany and Colombia: Memory Processes, History Didactics and Political Education". The course started on 18 February 2022.
Presentation at the Miami Dade College, 15.02.2022
During a seminar unit "Introduction to Sociology" by Dr. Alejandro Angee, the GUMELAB project was presented. Together with students from Argentina, Spain, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela, we discussed the influence of series and telenovelas on historical consciousness.
Presentation at the Organisation Hola Cultura in Washington D.C., 15.02.2022
GUMELAB was invited by the Washington D.C.-based organization Hola Cultura to present the project and give an interview for Hola Cultura's Arts & Humanities Storytelling Group. The non-profit organization works to preserve and promote Latinx culture in the Washington D.C. area. Click here for the interview.
"Telenovelas de la memoria and the melodramatization of recent history". Lecture by Mónika Contreras Saiz 10.12.21
At the Central Institute for Latin American Studies (ZILAS) semester-long lecture series: LATIN AMERICA IN MOVEMENT, Dr. Mónika Contreras Saiz (Freie Universität Berlin) spoke on "Telenovelas de la memoria and the Melodramatization of Recent History in Latin America".
Workshop on the intercultural reception of Pablo Escobar-El Patrón del Mal, 07.12.2021
Together with Gicela Andrea Aguirre García and Roberto Abdala Júnior, Pablo Escobar-El Patrón del Mal was examined from an international perspective during a joint viewing. The focus was on actions and cultural narratives.
X. International Colloquium Diversidadade das Culturas (Diversity of Cultures) 22.11-26.11
Within the framework of the X. Coloquio Internacional Diversidadade das Culturas, organized by the Doctoral Program in Social Sciences of the Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Argentina, and the Postgraduate Program in History of the Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil, Mónika Contreras Saiz presented the topic Learning the recent history of Latin America through soap operas and series?
Visit of guest researcher Roberto Abdala Júnior, 15.11.-15.12.2021
Roberto Abdala Júnior's research stay at GUMELAB focused on the cultural contexts of Brazilian telenovelas and series in the post-military dictatorship period, as well as a comparison to Colombian narratives in audiovisual formats.
"At the Cutting Edges of Knowledge Production: Borders and Black Holes in Academic Dialogue", 09.11.2021
The digital network conference "At the Cutting Edges of Knowledge Production: Borders and Black Holes in Academic Dialogue" took place on 09.11.2021. We were pleased to report on our experiences in the international and interdisciplinary project GUMELAB in the slot on "Successes and Breakdowns in Science Communication" ("Erfolge und Pannen in der Wissenschaftskommunikation").
International Academic Exchange "Political Formation for a Sustainable and Peaceful Development", 24. - 29.10.21
GUMELAB participated in the International Academic Exchange "Political Formation for a Sustainable and Peaceful Development" that took place from October 24 to 29, 2021 at the Seccional Oriente of the University of Antioquia, Colombia. This event was organized by the University of Giessen, the University of Antioquia, the German-Colombian Institute for Peace - CAPAZ and the DAAD. Dr. Mónika Contreras Saiz moderated the panel on Political Education in Germany and Latin America and participated in the round table: "Education and Peace", discussing the relationship between telenovelas and series that narrate the recent Latin American past and political education.
Start of the doctor tandem Santiago de Chile - Berlin on 21.10.2021
The second doctor tandem between Hannah Müssemann (Freie Universität Berlin) and Consuelo Ábalos (Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile) started in mid-October. They will support each other in research on transnational memory images.
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Stefan Rinke at the 53rd German Historians Conference, 05.10.2021: The Struggle for Concepts. Treatment of the dictatorship in the Chilean public discourse since 1990
The lecture retraced the transformation of dictatorships as a concept in historical narratives and dealt with the controversial balance between atonement and reconciliation in the public discourse of remembrance in Chile.
To the conference report.
Visit of guest researcher Lorena Antezana Barrios, 12.09.-12.10.2021
Her research fellowship at GUMELAB was focused on conceptualizing specific terms of work and on preparing various transfer activities.
Television Fiction, History and Memories. Challenges for International Cooperation in Research" (Institute of Communication and Image, University of Chile). Colloquium of the Institute of Communication and Image at the University of Chile
Our collaborators from the Institute of Communication and Image at the University of Chile spoke at the Research Colloquium on "Television Fiction, History and Memories. Challenges for International Research Collaboration", which took place on Wednesday, September 22 from 19:30 to 21:00 (UTC) (14:30 - 16:00 in Chile).
Workshop with Lorena Antezana Barrios and Wolfgang Fuhrmann on the ad-hoc reception of Narcos, 01.10.2021
Together with the communication scientist Lorena Antezana Barrios and the film scholar Wolfgang Fuhrmann, the workshop focused on the ad-hoc reception of an episode of Narcos (Colombia) and the methods for analysing memory images.
Start of the doctor tandem Santiago de Chile - Berlin on 09.08.2021
Start of the doctor tandem between Holle Ameriga Meding (Freie Universität Berlin) and Juan Pablo Sánchez Sepúlveda (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile/ Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile), 9.8.2021
Visit of the visiting scientist Karen Genschow 26.07.-06.08.2021
Dr. Karen Genschow is a literature and cultural studies scholar with a regional focus on Latin America (with a thematic emphasis on cultural memory, trauma, gender) in literature, film, and popular cultural objects such as comics and series. She is an expert on Chilean series about the military dictatorship such as Mary y Mike, Ecos del desierto, and Argentine telenovelas with historical reference such as Montecristo. Various working meetings and internal workshops have been held on genre decoding and narrative elements of Latin American telenovelas and series.
Panel at the conference of the Memory Studies Association, Conference 2021 in Warsaw, 07.07.21
“Convergences between Entertainment Media and Memory Processes in Digital Spaces in Latin America” (Chair: Mónika Contreras Saiz; participants: Holle Meding, Evelyn Hevia Jordán, Andrea Cagua, Mónika Contreras Saiz)
The following video was made for the conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86s60Kw8UKU
Presentation of GUMELAB at Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories PGR, 01.07.2021
Presentation “The transmission of transgenerational memories through telenovelas of memory (telenovelas de la memoria) and the impact on the collective historical consciousness” by Hannah Müssemann at the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories PGR Conference 2021, ‘Transgenerational Memory’, University of Brighton, 1.7.21
Teaching unit: „Colonia Dignidad between media, politics of memory and historical culture“, 22.06.21
during the seminar „Colonia Dignidad: Von der Mustersiedlung zum Folterlager?“ (FU Berlin, Prof. Stefan Rinke, Prof. Ingrid Kummels), 22.06.21
Kick-Off-Meetings with GUMELAB’s German partners on 18.06.2021
Kick-Off-Meetings with GUMELAB’s USA partners, 17.06.21
Presentation in the Universidade Estadual de Campinas on 21.05.2021
Presentation of the project GUMELAB as well as Hannah Müssemann’s and Holle Meding’s doctoral projects at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in the PhD colloquium at the Centro de Humanidades Digitais (directed by Prof. Thiago Lima Nicodemo), 21.5.21
Kick-Off-Meeting with GUMELAB’s Latin American partners, 06.05.21
