Abstract

In Colombia, community-based museums of memory (CMM) represent a collective action by victims, survivors, and their communities in response to various types of violence. Emotions exert a profound influence on these repertoires. Fear is an emotion that influences the dynamics of the high-risk contexts where these actions take place. The study of emotions and museums has primarily focused on the museum’s effects on its visitors. However, more needs to be known about the affective forces that drive and sustain these museums. The role of emotions in shaping the social order is a matter of dispute: either they have been understood as a disturbance of judgment, or they have been ignored. Nevertheless, sociocultural perspectives have demonstrated the significance of emotions in the rationality of social movements. The existing knowledge about emotions and collective action, which emerged from the study of social mobilization, provides an opportunity to gain insight into the affective substrates of museums. This study approaches two CMM as a multiple-case study based on engaged research. The argument posits that the collective experience of fear gives rise to multiple interpretations regarding its nature. This multiple ontology enables fear to not only to be utilized as a tool for domination and control but also as a mobilizing force for networks of care and solidarity. Additionally, it becomes a means of reinforcing the political subjectivity of such communities.