Juan Pablo Angarita Bernal

I am a PhD researcher in Digital Humanities at the University of Cambridge, based at Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH) and Wolfson College. My research explores how public and heritage libraries in Colombia have transformed their practices of cultural heritage mediation since the expansion of digital culture in the 1990s. I examine hybrid (physical and digital) initiatives through which libraries engage with communities, researchers, and other institutions. Drawing on archival and historical research, media archaeology, and interviews, I investigate the extent to which libraries have acted as "knowledge bridges" between institutional and community knowledge, and how their mediation practices have shaped cultural heritage value and negotiated questions of access, participation, and representation in a country marked by enduring colonial legacies and structural inequalities, significant digital and educational divides, and decades of armed conflict. 

My research builds on my professional experience as a public librarian and my MSc dissertation at the University of Edinburgh, which explored gender representation in Colombian digital heritage collections. I am supervised by Professor Caroline Bassett and funded by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP, alongside the Vice-Chancellor's Award and International Fee Bursary. I hold degrees in Literature and History, as well as an MA in History, from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá), and an MSc in Cultural Heritage Futures from the University of Edinburgh. My professional background includes library management, digital heritage, radio, and cultural outreach. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-pablo-angarita-bernal-b4367540/