Researcher, Independent scholar
Contributor, Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
About Valeria
Anthropologist with a master’s degree in Social Studies of Science and Technology. Leader of Social Consultation and Research Group (CIS). Experience as a university professor, journalist, and project coordinator in both public and private sectors. Research interests include science and technology, museology, popular culture, and memory studies.
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Contributions to Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
View all of Valeria's posts on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.
Animals in War: Multispecies Agency and the Memory of the Colombian Armed Conflict
In one testimony from Colombia’s armed conflict, a parrot named Lola repeated the phrases she heard around her: “Paraco asesino” (“paramilitary murderer”), “Viva la guerrilla” (“long live the guerrilla”), and “The vultures are coming” Her voice condensed the sounds, fears, and political tensions of war into a multispecies archive of memory. Far from being passive witnesses, animals moved within the infrastructures of conflict as companions, alarms, transportation, and sometimes even weapons. Yet these violent incorporations are only the most extreme expression of a broader multispecies world of conflict. (more…) (read more...)