Online Museums and Courses: Nicaraguan History in Times of Dictatorship

Sunday, January 10, 2027: 10:00 AM
Napoleon Ballroom C3 (Sheraton New Orleans)
Antonio Monte Casablanca, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
In this presentation, I examine three contemporary history and memory initiatives developed by Nicaraguan civil society organizations in exile in Costa Rica between 2024 and 2025. They are The Museum of Memory (Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective), the documentary film Monarca de Norte a Sur (produced by exiled Nicaraguan artists at COPAL), and the portal Online Nicaraguan History (Aprendenic, Construyendo Futuro NGO). Based upon my personal involvement in their conceptualization, I analyze how these projects respond to the systemic repression of academic freedom, freedom of expression, and access to historical records in the current context of Nicaragua under the Ortega-Murillo regime, characterized by the closure and confiscation of historical collections and institutions of higher education.

Considering previous regional initiatives, such as the collection Historia General de Centroamérica coordinated by scholars Víctor Hugo Acuña, Héctor Lindo, and Margarita Vannini in the 1990s, my presentation incorporates a comparative perspective. I highlight both continuities and transformations in the production of historical knowledge, which, in the case of Nicaragua, has been accomplished under political violence, authoritarianism, and institutional collapse.

This presentation addresses three interrelated questions. First, how are the disciplines of history and memory studies mobilized in these contemporary initiatives to challenge state narratives and confront authoritarian power? Second, and within a longue durée perspective, what archival, methodological, and pedagogical strategies have enabled civil society actors in exile to construct new historical repositories and interpretive frameworks to understand the recent past? Finally, what ethical and political responsibilities do historians assume in contexts of forced exile, and how might academic practice shape critical past–present reflections in societies experiencing ongoing trauma and displacement?

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