Brown Bag Lunch: Memoria Decolonial

Memoria (De)colonial is a nonprofit collective in Puerto Rico composed of researchers, educators, artists, and community organizers committed to examining and transforming how colonial legacies shape the island’s public memory, heritage, and cultural narratives. Their work resonates deeply with Puerto Rico’s constitutional right to access public information. This right guarantees citizens access to documents, archives, and other materials produced by the state—resources that are essential to understanding and contesting how official narratives are constructed.

By producing open-access digital archives, mapping public monuments, and organizing educational walking tours such as (De)Tours or (Des)vío, the collective not only democratizes access to historical knowledge but also models how public information can be transformed into public engagement. Their Cartography of Colonial Monuments and archival research initiatives expand the meaning of public information beyond governmental transparency to include the right of communities to know—and reinterpret—the histories inscribed in their landscapes. 

In this way, Memoria (De)colonial activates the constitutional promise of access to information as a decolonial practice: reclaiming the right to see, name, and understand the past as a collective act of justice and self-determination. Rafael V. Capó García, Memoria (De)colonial's director will join us.