Between 2007 and 2013, we were part of the Historical Memory Group (GMH), a research group comprising researchers and experts working under the auspices of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation of Colombia. The GMH was tasked under Law 975 with producing a report on the origins and causes of the armed conflict in Colombia. Despite the dominant right-wing political context and the ongoing armed conflict, the GMH enjoyed intellectual and operative autonomy in its research. This article interrogates the dynamics and reasons that served as the basis for the GMH’s special sensitivity towards victims; the notion of victim implicit in the research work, with its inclusions and exclusions; and the dilemmas that arose in the group’s work. We argue that the GMH can be characterized as an agent of knowledge production about a violent past that was able to articulate comprehensive and plural narratives about violence in Colombia. However, this work was limited by state and institutional dynamics that sought to domesticate and instrumentalize the voices of those who had been systematically silenced. A review of the GMH’s work suggests three critical dilemmas that constrain truth-telling mechanisms: the dilemma between opening spaces for truth telling and the safety of those providing testimony; the dilemma around whose victims’ voices gain authority in the documentation process; and the risks of institutionalizing a discourse around victims that bestows narrative capital to state and societal institutions.

中文翻译：

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在战争中构建记忆：哥伦比亚历史记忆小组

2007 年至 2013 年，我们是历史记忆小组 (GMH) 的成员，该小组由研究人员和专家组成，在哥伦比亚全国赔偿与和解委员会的支持下工作。根据第 975 号法律，GMH 的任务是编写一份关于哥伦比亚武装冲突起源和原因的报告。尽管存在占主导地位的右翼政治背景和持续的武装冲突，但 GMH 在其研究中享有知识和操作自主权。本文探讨了作为 GMH 对受害者特别敏感的基础的动力和原因；研究工作中隐含的受害者概念，包括和排除；以及小组工作中出现的困境。我们认为 GMH 可以被描述为关于过去暴力的知识生产的代理人，能够表达关于哥伦比亚暴力的全面和多元化的叙述。然而，这项工作受到国家和机构动态的限制，这些动态试图驯化和工具化那些被系统性压制的人的声音。对 GMH 工作的回顾表明了三个限制说真话机制的关键困境：开放空间讲真话与提供证词的人的安全之间的困境；在记录过程中谁的受害者的声音获得权威的困境；以及将围绕受害者的话语制度化，从而赋予国家和社会机构叙事资本的风险。