Latest news with #historicalinjustice
France 24
6 days ago
- France 24
Excavations begin at child mass grave site in Ireland
The planned two-year probe by Irish and foreign experts in Tuam comes more than a decade after an amateur historian first uncovered evidence of a mass grave there. Subsequent 2016-2017 test excavations found significant quantities of baby remains in a subterranean disused septic tank at the location, which now sits within a housing complex. Catholic nuns ran a so-called "mother and baby" institution there between 1925 and 1961, housing women who had become pregnant outside of marriage and been shunned by their families. After giving birth, some children lived in the homes too but many more were given up for adoption under a system that often saw church and state work in tandem. Oppressive and misogynistic, the institutions -- which operated nationwide, some not closing until as recently as 1998 -- represent a dark chapter in the history of once overwhelmingly Catholic and socially conservative Ireland. A six-year enquiry sparked by the initial discoveries in Tuam found 56,000 unmarried women and 57,000 children passed through 18 such homes over a 76-year period. It also concluded that 9,000 children had died in the various state- and Catholic Church-run homes nationwide. Records unearthed show as many as 796 babies and young children died at the Tuam home over the decades that it operated. Its grounds have been left largely untouched after the institution was knocked down in 1972 and housing was built there. 'A fierce battle' "These children were denied every human right in their lifetime, as were their mothers," Anna Corrigan, whose two siblings may have been buried at the Tuam site, told reporters earlier this month. "And they were denied dignity and respect in death." Ireland's Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT) will undertake the excavation, alongside experts from Colombia, Spain, Britain, Canada and the United States. It will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible, and re-interment of the remains found, its director Daniel MacSweeney told a recent press conference in Tuam. It follows local historian Catherine Corless in 2014 producing evidence that the 796 children -- from newborns to a nine-year-old -- had died at the home. State-issued death certificates she compiled show that various ailments, from tuberculosis and convulsions to measles and whooping cough, were listed as the cause of death. Corless's research indicated the corpses were likely placed in the disused septic tank discovered in 1975, while prompting the state-backed enquiries that have uncovered the full scandal of the homes. The ODAIT team was finally appointed in 2023 to lead the Tuam site excavation. DNA samples have already been collected from around 30 relatives, and this process will be expanded in the coming months to gather as much genetic evidence as possible, according to MacSweeney. A 2.4-meter-high (7.9 feet) hoarding has been installed around the perimeter of the excavation area, which is also subject to 24-hour security monitoring to ensure its forensic integrity. "It's been a fierce battle. When I started this nobody wanted to listen. At last we are righting the wrongs," Corless, 71, told AFP in May.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Ana Maria Gonçalves becomes first Black woman in Brazil's literary academy
Brazil has elected its first Black woman to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, founded in 1897 and modelled on the Académie Française. Ana Maria Gonçalves, 54, is one of Brazil's most acclaimed contemporary authors, and her election on Thursday is being widely celebrated by writers, activists, literary scholars and president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Her most famous work, Um defeito de cor (A Colour Defect) is still untranslated into English. It is a 950-page historical novel that she describes as 'the history of Brazil told from the point of view of a Black woman'. Recently selected as the greatest work of Brazilian literature of the 21st century so far by the newspaper Folha de S Paulo, the book achieved the rare combination of both critical and popular success, with more than 180,000 copies sold since its release in 2006. Celebrating Gonçalves's victory, Lula wrote that the book was his 'companion' during his 580 days in prison, 'and I always make a point of recommending it to everyone.' Now, the author hopes that her election to the 128-year-old academy – whose primary mission is the preservation of the Portuguese language and Brazilian literature – may help correct what she sees as a longstanding historical injustice. 'I'm the first Black woman, but I can't be the only one,' said Gonçalves, who will be just the sixth woman among the 40 members, or 'immortals', as they refer to themselves. Apart from two Black men and the first and only Indigenous writer to join the institution, all the others are white men. 'I can't carry the weight of representing an entire population that continues to be marginalised and that is itself incredibly diverse,' she said. The academy had as its first president a Black man, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, widely considered the greatest Brazilian writer of all time. Despite still being known as the House of Machado de Assis, the academy has since had only a handful of other Black men as members – something many see as a stark illustration of how racism operates in a country where more than half the population is of African descent. Poet and translator Stephanie Borges, 40, believes Gonçalves's election will encourage more Black women to become readers and writers. 'When it's us telling our own stories, we invite those who look like us to come closer to literature,' she said. Cidinha da Silva, 58, author of more than 20 books, is keen to stress that Gonçalves was not elected because she is Black, but 'because she is one of the greatest living writers in Brazil'. There were 13 candidates in the running, and of the 31 members who voted in Thursday's election, 30 chose Gonçalves – the remaining vote went to Eliane Potiguara, 74, who had hoped to become the first Indigenous woman to join the academy. Gonçalves had to run a sort of 'campaign' – though she emphasises she never asked for votes – in which she sent a copy of her book and a personal letter to each member, and phoned some of them to discuss her work. In 2018, another celebrated Black writer, Conceição Evaristo, 78, also stood for election, but received just one vote. 'The academy does need more women, more Black people, Indigenous people, and people from other parts of Brazil,' said Gonçalves. 'And I hope that now, from the inside, I can help make that happen.'
