The museum "Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social" (LUM) in Lima addresses the period of violence in Peru (1980 and 2000) in which the government confronted terrorist organizations such as “Shining Path” or the “Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru”. The LUM preserves the memory of these events and offers a wide range of learning, research, and commemoration activities. To meet this institutional objective, one of its areas, the Documentation and Research Center (Centro de Documentación e Investigación (CDI – LUM)) is responsible for the conservation, preservation and dissemination of archives and bibliographic material. In 2019, this area received funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation. We asked Ms Maria Elena Príncipe Yupanqui, Coordinator of CDI-LUM, some questions on the museum and her work at the CDI.
L.I.S.A.: Ms Príncipe, you are Coordinator of the Documentation and Research Center of the Place of the Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion (CDI–LUM (by its acronym in Spanish)) in Lima, Perú. Could you give us some background information on the LUM as well as the CDI and its collection?
Elena Príncipe: It is a pleasure to take this opportunity to greet you and thank you for the support you have given us in 2019 because it has allowed us to repower the LUM Documentation and Research Center (CDI-LUM) in such a difficult time as the Covid 19 pandemic and the subsequent budget restrictions.
The construction of the LUM was thanks to an initiative promoted by the German government and thanks to its financial support it was able to become a reality. This project began in 2008 during the second government of Alan García Pérez. Due to different reasons, including political ones, the LUM could only be inaugurated on December 17, 2015, and marked its transition as an international cooperation project to be managed by the Peruvian State (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then became part of the Ministry of Culture).
In 2018, it left the General Secretariat to be under the administration of the General Directorate of Museums, under the category of places of Memory. Currently, it is made up of 5 specialized areas: Museography (permanent exhibition and museum exhibitions), Education (mediations in the permanent and temporary exhibition), CDI-LUM (archives, library, and academic research), Cultural Management (academic and cultural events) and Dignification (attention to victims of the period of violence). Each area proposes and executes activities from an interdisciplinary perspective referred to their specific functions, which were regulated with the approval of the LUM Guidelines in 2018.
In reference to the CDI-LUM, its creation was conceived in the elaboration of the script of the permanent exhibition of the LUM (year 2014) and its development as a project was under the direction of historian Ruth Borja, who began the collection and centralization of bibliography and archives of various entities that had information on the period of violence (1980-2000). As of 2016, the CDI-LUM structured its activities in three lines of work, which are framed within the LUM Guidelines:
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Collection, organization and public use of archives and library on the period of violence. To date we have 44 documentary collections: 26 can be viewed through our virtual platform: https://lum.cultura.pe/cdi/ and the remaining 18 can be reviewed in person at our library.
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Development of research on the period of violence (1980-2000). These projects will allow reflection on its causes, development, and consequences in Peru. From 2016 to 2021 we have published 15 academic works, approximately, among books, research notebooks, an academic journal and newsletters. CDI-LUM publications can be consulted at: https://lum.cultura.pe/publicaciones
- Creation of spaces for reflection and academic exchange as well as promotion of research, through workshops in public and private universities. From 2016 to 2021, more than 50 workshops and model classes have been held, with approximately 8,500 attendees in total.