Listen "Life Admin, with Oriana Bernasconi"
Episode Synopsis
Life admin often refers to the overwhelming and mundane paperwork that surrounds contemporary living. However, Oriana Bernasconi, a sociology professor at the Alberto Hurtado University in Chile, joins Uncommon Sense to talk about a more serious side of the term – that of paperwork documenting human rights abuse – as well as a living, breathing archive and the analogue spreadsheet.Author of “Resistance to Political Violence in Latin America: Documenting Atrocity”, Oriana talks about her substantial research in human rights archives documenting the atrocities that took place during the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. She also talks us through “technologies of memory” and how archives have allowed the living to connect with the dead.Plus: Oriana introduces us to the works of Judith Butler and Jacques Derrida around performativity and gives her pop culture recommendation for the 16-part TV series “Una historia necesaria”.Guest: Oriana BernasconiHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochGuest Producer: Emma HoultonSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesRosie, Alexis and Oriana recommendedWINHANGANHA – film by Jazz MoneyInside/Out: A Prison Memoir – theatre production by Patrick KeatingUna Historia Necesaria – TV series by Hernán CaffieroBy Oriana BernasconiResistance to Political Violence in Latin America: Documenting AtrocityPolitical Technologies of Memory: Uses and Appropriations of Artefacts that Register and Denounce State Violence (co-authored with Elizabeth Lira and Marcela Ruiz)Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America (co-authored with Vikki Bell, Jaime Hernández-García and Cecilia Sosa)From The Sociological ReviewThe aesthetics of memory: Ruins, visibility and witnessing – Margarita PalaciosThe digital writing of human rights narratives: Failure, recognition, and the unruly inscriptions of database infrastructures – Josh BowsherFurther resourcesthe publications of the Tecnologías Políticas de la Memoria project“Documenting Dictatorship: Writing and Resistance in Chile's Vicaría de la Solidaridad” – Vikki Bell“Documentality: Why it is Necessary to Leave Traces” – Maurizio Ferraris“Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” – Judith Butler about the concept of Speeach Acts, as well as the work of Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense
More episodes of the podcast Uncommon Sense
Maternal, with Babalwa Magoqwana
21/11/2025
Desire, with Angelique Nixon
24/10/2025
BONUS: Len Garrison, Archives and Self-Esteem – from ‘Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism’
03/10/2025
BONUS: Gerlin Bean and Black British Feminist Socialism – from ‘Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism’
03/10/2025
BONUS: Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Tech and Anti-Racism – from ‘Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism’
03/10/2025
Love & Reproduction, with Alva Gotby
19/09/2025
Childhood, with Brenda Herbert
25/07/2025
Free Speech, with Aaron Winter
27/06/2025
Revolution, with Volodymyr Ishchenko
06/06/2025
Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism – Trailer
21/05/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.