Colonial Memory in Catalonia. From Denial to Reparation. Lecture by Celeste Muñoz Martínez

“The future is written; only the past remains unpredictable” is a lecture series revolving around the “Legacies in Potential” programme, organised by Bòlit, Centre d’Art Contemporani de Girona as part of the Girona Bimillenary.

This lecture will explore the conflicts of memory surrounding colonial and slaveholding pasts that have shaken Catalan society in recent decades, particularly since 1992. It will situate these memories within a historical perspective, paying particular attention to the dialectic between anti-colonial memory and nostalgia, in order to understand it in the light of the fractures of our present: from debates on inequality, migration and identity.

From this perspective, reparation for the past, which is now being addressed through multiple initiatives, is not merely an act of recognition, but an acknowledgement of how this past has shaped our present. It also raises questions of justice that are gradually being taken up by the political and social agenda, not without tensions and areas of consensus.

Celeste Muñoz is a historian and lecturer in the Department of Contemporary History at UNED. Her main research interests focus on African studies and, particularly, on systems of colonisation and legal pluralism in Equatorial Guinea, as well as colonial memories and historical reparations.

In collaboration with the Arxiu Municipal de Girona.