Odlanyer Hernández de Lara, PhD candidate and part-time instructor in anthropology, has been conducting research in Cuba for over two decades, exploring the intersection of archaeology and memory in post-dictatorial contexts on the island nation. The particular archaeological study in his article “Between Ruins and Remembrance: Archaeology, Violence, and the Afterlives of Dictatorship in Cuba,” investigates the former colonial battery Escuadrón 41. It draws on excavation, documentary research, oral histories, architectural analysis and geophysics. The article is available online. Following is an abstract:

This study investigates Escuadrón 41, a former colonial battery turned detention and torture center, to examine the material and mnemonic afterlives of state violence in Cuba. Through excavation, archival research and oral histories, it reveals how ruins, memory and erasure intersect, positioning archaeology as critical engagement with difficult pasts.