The Institute for the Study of Human Rights is pleased to welcome the 9th cohort of the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability fellows to Columbia University program for the 2020-2021 cycle. Fellows who join the program this year come from Argentina, Brazil, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Kosovo, Nigeria, Turkey, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Since 2012, the program has been hosting 96 fellows representing over 47 countries and territories from various regions around the world.
The Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability Program (AHDA) has expanded the work of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights in the growing field of scholarship and practice that seeks to examine and address the historical legacy of conflicts, and in particular the role and impact that the memory of past violence wields on contemporary politics, societies and cultures. The fellowship group this year includes archivists, artists, cultural heritage professionals, film directors, human rights and community activists, journalists, researchers, teachers and writers. In many way, their work relates to accountability, advocacy, historical dialogue, human rights, justice and memory in conflict, post-conflict, dictatorial societies and democracies.
In response to the global pandemic, the fellowship program will start on October 15, 2020 and will end in May, 2021. The program will take place remotely with a possibility of the in-person workshop if global conditions permit.
The fellows joining AHDA program 2020-2021 are:
Banu Pekol, Cultural Heritage Professional, Association for the Protection for Cultural Heritage, Turkey
Catherine Kennedy, Archival Activist, Constitutional Court Trust, South Africa
Dilpreet Bhullar, Associate Editor, Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, India
Francis Nono, Community Activist, National Memory and Peace Documentation Center (NMPDC), Uganda
James Miles, Sessional Instructor, The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2), Canada
Johann Peiris, Technical Expert - Historical Dialogue, GIZ (German Development Cooperation), Sri Lanka
Lucas Sebastian Massuco, Museologist, Museo de la Memoria in Rosario, Argentina
Kaltrina Krasniqi, Film Director and Researcher, Kosovo Oral History Initiative, Kosovo
Marija Ristic, Journalist and Researcher, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mbasekei Martin Obono, Human Rights Lawyer and Advocate, Tap iNitiative for Citizens Development, Nigeria
Simon Li, Journalist and Researcher, Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Center, Hong Kong
Tendaishe Tlou, Advocate, National Transitional Justice Working Group, Zimbabwe
Thais Rosa Pinheiro, Researcher and Founder, Conectando Territórios, Brazil
We would like to use this opportunity and to invite Columbia University faculty and staff to reach out to the 2020-2021 fellowship participants if you are looking for speakers, presenters or practitioners to address your class. Please send an email message to:
ahda@columbia.eduPlease consult full biographies of the fellows
here.
The projects that the participants from past years have been working on:
click here 
