Pilar Riaño-Alcalá

Pilar Riaño-Alcalá is a Professor at the Social Justice Institute (SJI) within the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is also a Faculty Associate in the Department of Anthropology at UBC and a Senior Fellow at the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS). As co-lead of the Transformative Memory International Network, she directs major SSHRC-funded research on memory, violence, and social repair. Her academic and public intellectual work is deeply collaborative with Black and Indigenous communities in Colombia and transnational peace initiatives.

Fields of Research:

• Witnessing and lived experiences of political violence, war, and genocide
• Landscapes and practices of memory and social repair
• Ecologies of absence and presence in memory work
• Epistemic justice and relational methodologies
• Sound memory, oral history, and social practice art
• Forced migration and transnational diaspora organizing

Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on transformative memory, especially through the voices of marginalized communities such as the Wayuu and the cantadoras of the Atrato River. Her work bridges academic research with public art, most notably through her two-decade collaboration with artist Suzanne Lacy on The Skin of Memory. The thematic trends in her articles show a deep commitment to decolonial methodologies, community-based knowledge production, and the integration of artistic practices in memory and justice work.

Scientific Awards:

• Senior Fellow, CALAS, 2021
• Academic Writing Fellow, Bellagio Center, Rockefeller Foundation, 2019
• Faculty Fellow in Residence, Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC, 2009–2015

Advising and Grants:

Riaño-Alcalá has supervised numerous PhD and MA students at UBC, focusing on themes of decolonial solidarity, environmental justice, and memory. She currently leads three major research projects: Transformative Memory: An International Network (SSHRC Partnership Grant), Exhumations and Burial in Colombia, and Sacred Responsibilities to Water: Indigenous Knowledge Exchanges, Canada-Colombia. Her advising reflects a strong commitment to interdisciplinary, community-engaged scholarship, particularly with Indigenous and diasporic communities.

Labs and Networks:

She co-directs the Transformative Memory International Network, a transnational research collective that fosters collaborative memory practices across Latin America, Canada, and Europe. Her work is deeply embedded in community-university partnerships and public scholarship, including multimedia exhibitions and collaborative publications.