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Translating freedom
The Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past has joined in partnership with the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) to win AHRC Research Network funding to conduct work on translations of ‘freedom’ in post-conflict settings. The project grew out of IPUP’s own ‘Navigating the Past’ seminar series and especially our discussion groups that examined commemoration, trauma, and contested pasts.
Translations of 'freedom' as democracy, human rights, revolution, reconciliation, or in some other form, are a vital component of internal national debates, external interventions and links between the two in such settings. Two sectors have been identified as central to the translation of 'freedom' in post-conflict settings: 1) human rights and transitional justice; 2) public culture, ranging from literature, film and theatre to community arts projects, graffiti and memorialisation. As such, translations of ' freedom' are situated at the intersection of institutions and norms on the one hand, and public debate and creativity on the other. Four country case-studies have been selected for initial attention: Egypt, Northern Ireland, Rwanda and South Africa. The four countries are at different stages on the post-conflict continuum, and provide a diverse set of challenges for the translation of 'freedom' in the sectors outlined above.
Further details of the project’s events, and the readings circulated at the groups’ seminars, can be found at IPUP’s Seminar page