ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ

Embroidering for Peace and Memory is an annual event that takes place in March at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ to commemorate Women's History Month. ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ students, faculty and staff from across campus gather to embroider on pieces of white cloth messages of peace and the stories of people around the world who have endured the violation of their rights. So far, approximately 200 pieces of embroidery have been created and collected in more than 13 languages, highlighting the culture and diversity of ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ and the North Florida community (for examples, see ). In recent years, this project has also involved students from Stanton College Preparatory High School. Constanza López, associate professor of Spanish, leads this project, with support from the International Studies Program and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

This digital archive makes the embroidery produced in this project available online. The archive includes digital images, notes about the personal stories behind the embroidery, and metadata that will make the materials searchable and sortable by predefined categories. Professor López began building this archive in the fall of 2017 in collaboration with International Studies/Philosophy major Rebecca Weiner. Rebecca has produced archival photographs of the embroidery, created written material about the pieces based on discussions with Professor López and project participants, developed curatorial categories for organizing the material, prepared the corresponding metadata. She has also designed and constructed the prototype website using the open-source collections management tool Omeka.

To view the project, see: 

Faculty Leader

Constanza López is an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. She obtained her Ph.D. in Hispanic Literatures at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research interests include Latin American Literatures of the XX and XXI centuries, women writers, autobiography and testimonio, gender and violence, film and documentary, human rights and activism, migrations, and Hispanics in the U.S. She is author of Trauma,memoria y cuerpo: el testimonio femenino en Colombia, 2012. She is currently working on a manuscript for a book titled Gender and Testimonio in Colombian Hip Hop. 

Student Collaborator

Rebecca Weiner is a Hicks Honors College student double-majoring in International Studies and Philosophy. She completed an internship as a Digital Humanities research assistant to Dr. López in the fall of 2017.