3VP at MLC – Translating memory – Hannah’s story

Posted on: 28 April 2021 in 2021 posts

Hannah Wilson (BA Modern Languages: Triple) spent Semester 1 on a Year 3 Virtual Placement or 3VP with the MLC research project ‘A Museum for Me’ led by Prof. Claire Taylor with Dr Lucia Brandi, which works with the National Museum of Colombia to produce educational materials on memory and representation.. Here, Hannah talks to the MLC blog about A Museum for Me product range, and her role as a 3VP intern.

"This last semester has been a really busy time for A Museum for Me because it has just launched 6 new products in both Spanish and English, as well as a re-design of its original mini-museum-making craft kits. All the materials are designed for conserving memories, documenting stories, and encouraging critical thinking around representation, visibility, and human rights. They will be piloted at the National Museum of Colombia (MNC), and then rolled out to a further 20 museums across the country, as part of the MNC’s capacity-building programme for community museums - you can hear María Mónica Fuentes Leal, from the MNC, talking about it here. 

As a 3VP intern I have gained so many new skills; e.g. writing tweets for an organisational account, and preparing blog posts for a project website. I have done subtitling of videos and translated project documents, so I have been able to practice my Spanish, but also find out more about the work of the @MVRColombia project, uncovering truths of the Colombian conflict through the testimonies of affected women and children whose bravery I am inspired by. I have been heavily involved in the translation of the new English language products, and I’m really excited that they will shortly be available for UK groups and museums. The new A Museum for Me products are:

A Theatre for Me

Bring your own stories to life with your very own theatre! Think about what stories you want to tell, and which characters you would like to bring to life, and make your museum a stage for everything you want to imagine.

A Diary of my Museum Visit

A visit to a museum is a chance to look, learn, reflect, remember, and make resolutions. Use a diary to document your own experiences in this museum. Regardless of what others say or what you have heard before, trust yourself and let go...

My Personal Timeline

Use a timeline to help document your own life events, and trace your story. Compare the dates that you find in the museum with your own. Looking back helps you to look around you, and look ahead…

A Museum for Me and my Human Rights

Get to know your human rights under international law; use our guide and map on your next museum visit to reflect on your fundamental rights and how they protect you - are these rights represented in museums?

A Calendar for Me

Create your own calendar for whichever year you like, either alone or with your family or friends. Record the dates, events, people, places and memories that are important to you and form part of your year every year.

Finally, I have thoroughly enjoyed this internship, as it has opened my eyes to a new aspect of political history, and it is really interesting to explore the problems faced by a Spanish-speaking country, while developing new skills and interests that will carry me through the rest of my degree and into the future."

If you want to know more about the project, see our website here.

If you want to know more about 3VP internships, contact N.Bermingham@liverpool.ac.uk.

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Study in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Liverpool.