72 project Results

Intro:

Living Archives [Archivo vivo]: Weaving gendered (hi)stories of Territorial Reclamation is a collaborative research-based design project that seeks to recognise practices of urban reclamation, led by women in Moravia, Medellin (Col). Moravia is a neighbourhood of ‘migrants' in constraint flux and originated in the 70’s as a by-product of forced displacements, the violence of war and social injustices still facing ongoing threats of eviction. Archivo Vivo is a collaborative project that documents stories of territorial reclamation in Moravia (Medellín, Colombia). It focuses on the living heritage of the city, which is constituted by processes of community organisation and neighbourhood self-construction. Archival processes involve multiple forms of recording who we are and what we do. This project seeks to recognise practices of urban reclamation led by women as part of the living archive of Moravia. The collaboration was guided by the following questions:

How can we recognise the practices of territorial reclamation led by the women as part of the living archive of Moravia?
  • What socio-spatial practices constitute the living archive of Moravia?
  • How does weaving socio-spatial strategies to imagine urban futures for Moravia promote the permanence of the inhabitants?
  • How can we communicate and make Moravia's living archive visible as a reparation tool?

Carrousel: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dpu-ucl/albums/72177720312552216/with/53320417156

Approach:

Using a living archive approach, we engage in co-creation processes focused on revealing processes and practices of memory transmission and future envisioning in Moravia. Together with our partners, we challenged narratives about stigmatised communities and places while engaging in creative yet critical responses to the present and exposing alternative paths to the future. We used living archives as a decolonial methodology to re-centre life to imagine forms of living heritage based on relational forms of thinking and being. This approach allowed us to include textile practices, social cartographies, audio-visual material, historical photos, maps, and everyday interactions that capture the polyphony of (hi)stories and the multiplicity of spatial practices often silenced. This work aims to contribute to the processes of social mobilisation, territorial agreements, and community learning.

The project proposed two intertwined strategies of co-creation: gendering the archive and weaving (hi)stories of reclamation to reframe a repository of urban memory and living heritage into a process of collective imagination to counteract the existing enduring eviction threats. In Moravia, living archives have been crucial in mobilising women's emancipatory transformation and as artefacts for advocacy. Our project focuses on the living heritage of the city, which is constituted by processes of community organisation and neighbourhood self-construction. We agreed to focus on three issues that are at the heart of the territory's historical and current claims for the right to the city: security of tenure, ‘reception’ of migrants and ecological reparations. Through processes of co-creation, we found that living archives 1) are inscribed in bodies, self-built urban spaces, and collective reclamation practices, 2) can help to specialise our emotions to bridge connections with our past in the present, triggering processes of territorial healing (Ortiz & Gómez-Córdoba, 2023) and 3 ) represent a call for collective actions that observe, recognise and appreciate the territory as an ‘affective infrastructure of knowledge co-production’ (Ortiz et al., 2022). Through a living archive, communities establish multi-temporal conversations about their connections to the territory, to reveal everyday interactions, the polyphony of histories and the multiplicity of often silenced spatial practices.

Manifesto:

This project documents different ways to frame a living archive departing from our engagement with diverse community organisations in Moravia. We understand Moravia’s Living Archive as a collective project led by the following premises:
  • Inhabited: Constantly empowered by the active community of the neighbourhood and its practices of territorial reclamation, reflecting the diverse interests and documentary needs.
  • Territorial: Rooted in urban spaces, memory, struggle, and territorial community expression.
  • Polyphonic: Composed of multiple voices, perspectives, and narratives and created jointly among diverse participants, reflecting collective effort.
  • Feminist: Focused on values of equality, empowerment, and the vindication of Moravian women's rights. Challenges hetero-patriarchal values.
  • Affection-based: Based on collective relationships of affection, empathy, and mutual respect.
  • Mobilises action: Inspires and encourages active participation for change that decides and agrees collectively, recognising spaces for dissent.
  • Active: Always in use, updating, and evolving.
  • Unfinished: Constantly under construction and open to new records, analysis, and new forms of visualising information.
  • Decentralized: It is manged by multiple stake holder and is promoted by community organizations and members of the different alliances.
  • Distributed: it is available if both physical and digital locations to facilitate access and participation from different users and contributors.

Team:

Archivo Vivo de Moravia is a project coordinated by Catalina Ortiz (DPU, University College London), Natalia Villamizar Duarte (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University), Luz Mila Hernandez (Moravia Resiste), Eliana Torres Toro (Planearte SAS) and Monica Saldarriaga, Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia.

The learning alliance have been integrated by scholars and students of the MSc Building and Urban Design in Development from DPU, University College London, scholars from Newcastle University (2023), the team of the Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia (CDCM), Planearte SAS, members of the various community organisations in Moravia such as Moravia Resiste, JARUM, Fundación Oasis Tropical, Colectivo TriciLab, Mama Chila Tours, and the Red Cultural Comuna 4.

The project was funded by the 2nd round of commissioned projects of “Imagining Futures Through Un/Archived Pasts’ led by the University of Exeter and sponsored by AHRC- GCRF.

Outputs:
 
  • Digital repository
The digital repository includes over 600 records about the neighbourhood. To launch this repository the community organisations in Moravia have proposed activities of spatial activation that are intended to bring the repository closer to the communities and the territory https://archivovivomoravia.org/
 
  • Report Living Archive Moravia 2023
This report entitled “Living Archive: Weaving Gendered (Hi)stories of Territorial Reclamation in Moravia, Medellin”, documents myriad ways to frame a living archive departing from the exchange that took place in Medellin and involved diverse community members and community organisations in Moravia. English version https://archive.org/details/report-living-archive-moravia-2023 Spanish version https://archive.org/details/reporte-archivo-vivo-moravia-2023
 
  • Archivo vivo Mural by Dubián Monsalve
A key output of this project is the Mural Archivo Vivo designed by local artist Dubián Monsalve after a long process of engagement with diverse participants in the Medellin exchange. This mural captures the processes of the engagement but more importantly the essence of the role of women in the processes of occupation and transformation of Moravia. Images of this piece are available here https://archivovivomoravia.org/archivo/rec5FFeR7lVuHG8Bc
 
  • Parque de las Canillas Mural by La Jefa
One of the processes of spatial co-creation carried out during the Medellin exchange took place in the Canillas Park’s where we collaborated with the local artist La Jefa to memorialise the role women in Moravia and particularly in this place. Before Moravia had water infrastructure in homes, Canillas Park was where people, particularly women came to collect water and clean their clothes (Report Living Archive Moravia 2023, English version, p.106).
 
  • Exhibition and open dialogue ‘tejiendo barrio’!
This event brought together four groups of community weavers to open a dialogue about the role of weaving in memory transmission and processes of reparations. The exhibition, which was open to the public for two weeks in the Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia, included pieces created by women in these four community groups. This process was documented here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a9HE8A_jcw&list=PLYQVppgi8V3Eo5zJXoog88JmXV2jTMmXV&index=5
 
  • Videos produced by Tricilab
The processes of co-creation that took place in Medellin during the exchange was documented in 4 videos, one video that summarises the whole process and three videos focusing on three thematic lenses identified in the theoretical framework of the project.
  1. Summary of results [video resumen resultados] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fgFJUWXprk&list=PLYQVppgi8V3Eo5zJXoog88JmXV2jTMmXV&index=1
  2. Reception of migrants [Migracion] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYbETUT2NpE&list=PLYQVppgi8V3Eo5zJXoog88JmXV2jTMmXV&index=3
  3. Environmental reparation [Regeneracion] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ude2xlh8VG8&list=PLYQVppgi8V3Eo5zJXoog88JmXV2jTMmXV&index=4
  4. Security of Tenure [Tenencia] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2awSD5t88Y&list=PLYQVppgi8V3Eo5zJXoog88JmXV2jTMmXV&index=2

Synopsis and Position

Cocina CoLaboratorio (CoLaboratory Kitchen) is a transdisciplinary project that gathers creatives, farmer communities, scientists and cooks around the kitchen table to exchange knowledge, design and take action towards sustainable food futures. A test ground for ideas that conciliate land restoration, food production and better livelihood in rural and peri urban areas. A collaboration between research institutes from the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), local and international universities, civil organizations, and individuals from different backgrounds. The project is part of the Food Art Research Network and the Green Art Lab Alliance. Winner of the “Climate Action Challenge” from What Design Can Do 2018, recipient of “Premio William Bullock 2020” for critical museography., and winner of the “Global Challenge 2021” from Architecture-in-Development. As part of Cocina CoLaboratorio, the Biocultural Living Archives (BLA) initiative was conceived as a mobile and organic community archive parting from the principles of critical museology, social/participatory art, and site-specific social design. The BLA sets up devices for exchange and networking, a window for cultural diversity, collaboration, and participation, within the framework of local food systems.

Objectives and Methods

This platform regards the kitchen as a co-creative space where people are connected through growing, cooking, tasting, sharing, and experimenting. Aspirations and actions are shared and undertaken around the kitchen, mixing world views, knowledge, practices and produce through different activities and programs catered to specific sites and cultures. The objective of this project throughImagining Futuresis to create a methodology with, for, and in the community of Santo Domingo Tomaltepec to strengthen, expand, and perpetuate the Biocultural Living Archives. The resulting “Collective Archivism” toolbox will offer political strategies for territorial defence and to inspire sites of Loma Bonita and Xochimilco. This will be done by integrating four avenues or axes of “collection” that will permeate the practice and analysis of the BLAs: memory, senses, emotions, and movement. By capturing a broader range of human experiences these axes can trigger a space for community members to own, rescue, revive, and re-imagine their experiences, knowledge and stories - along senses of ownership and agency. This in turn can bolster the BLA with the “collection” of meaningful participative exchanges under targeted topics that can bring about clearer strategies for political action and biocultural conservation.

Workshops and Events

Mapping of possible sanctuaries for the Biocultural Living Archive and “Forgotten Plates” activities for November (15-30) “Possible futures” event for January The Biocultural Living Archive as a political tool for March

Activities

https://imaginingfutures.world/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/VID-20231014-WA0042.mp4

Synopsis and Position

The study will add mental mapping which has not been widely used in the archaeological studies and more specifically in Maji Maji war studies. i.e the methods for this study will combine ethnographic and geographical approach in accessing information from Maji Maji war victims/survivors. More emphasis will be placed in mental mapping where as sketches and maps will be developed to complement stories told. All groups of the community will be involved; the project will ensure respondents include youths, elders and students of the communities. All gender and major religion (Christians and Muslims) will be included to ensure equal representation. The mental maps and sketches produced from the project will portray how the contemporary community view or re imagine the Maji Maji war. This will be the contemporary communities’ perception about the war and how it has been documented from one generation to another; in other words the study will tap the transgenerational memories of the Maji Maji war from the affected communities.

Objectives and Methods

To tap the transgenerational memories of the Maji Maji war from the affected communities Methods Mapping and sketching the war Observations Interviews Focus group discussion Video recording Photography

Workshops and Events

23 July 2021 and 22 February 2022 Maji maji war commemoration event in Songea

Activities

Data collection in Kilwa, Ndanda and Songea (Southern Tanzania)

Synopsis and Position

The study explores howmultivocalityperpetuates dissonance that shape cultural negotiations and people’s means of coping with the violent memories. It uses evidences from 19thcentury major terminals of slavery caravan routes in Mikindani and Pangani in Tanzania as explorations for wider theoretical and practical questions related to slavery archives and provides useful insights for rethinking heritage representation approach and for dealing with cultural diversities. It also offers important insights in the flaws of authorised heritage discourse, making a strong case for the crucial role of multivocality and its tensions, in overcoming symbolic violence and creating understanding of “the other”.

Objectives and Methods

The study adopts the lens of heritage dissonance and the IHD to explore the multivocality in the context of memorialization of heritage associated with the past slave trade, and how it perpetuates heritage dissonance that shapes cultural negotiations and the people’s means of coping with violent memories. It applies qualitative constructivism, humanist and dissensus designs to explore diverse evidences from people’s construction of the slavery heritage. It specifically employs in-depth interviews, participatory-based FGDs and physical observation of slavery heritage sites.

Workshops and Events

The workshop for the co-creation of the narratives of slavery archival materials conducted in January (Pangani) and February (Mikindani), where the narrations are presented to the local communities in a participatory manner in order to reach consensus regarding the most egalitarian representation that tell a more diverse story of slavery heritage

Activities

Project set up (September 2021, Dar es Salaam) Local stakeholder analysis to identify slavery heritage stakeholders beyond those known before hand, with the consideration of broader dimensions of people’s interest, power, legitimacy and historic connections and attachment with the heritage (October 2021, Mikindani/Pangani/Dar es Salaam) Physical survey of the slavery archival materials to document and assess their cultural significance and digitize them (October 2021, January 2022, Mikindani and Pangani) Engagement of local communities in participatory data collection undertakings such as in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (October 2021, January 2022, Mikindani and Pangani) The co-creation of the narratives of slavery archival materials and captions through participatory workshops (February 2022, Mikindani and Pangani) Analysis and Studio works (Digitalization, Production of Captions) (November 2021 – February 2022)

Synopsis and Position

This workshop was conducted on 11th December 2020. It aims to consult a wide range of academic, archive stakeholders and local groups to ensure co-creation of an egalitarian archival practice and themes in post-conflict, reconstruction, and displacement contexts, and test its transferability, in promoting social cohesion. It is an opportunity for the team members to introduce the project to the wider community, different stakeholders, researchers, and potential commission applicants. To talk about the project and listen to them and scope what kind of activity(s) we could potentially fund and identify opportunities to set the research agenda in conjunction with local partners and groups. This will give the Imagining Futures team a substance to set up project commission calls. The first calls might go out early next year so there is still plenty of time to influence the agenda. So, the opportunity exists now to directly suggest archiving initiatives that address projects’ main goals and objectives. This workshop intends to elucidate and provoke any ideas from the participants—no matter how large or small—it would be of interest. Thus; the organizing team invites interested members of the community, academics, and non-academics to participate in this important training workshop.

Objectives and Methods

This is a training workshop and is facilitated by a number of invited scholars and the main objective is to identify opportunities to set the research agenda in conjunction with local partners and groups.

Synopsis and Position

This project seeks to engage people as living archives, centring histories and narratives of community that are not always present in the “official archive”. Archiving as active, dynamic and connected to questions of knowledge production as collaborative, shared and accessible. Additionally, this project explores the material items migrants bring, their function and meaning to them - the stories ‘objects’ hold. Furthermore, adding to a vocabulary that refuses the colonial hierarchies and ordering of knowledge, the project seeks to engage artists in Zimbabwe as collaborators, including their interactions with diaspora in the creation of archival representations; recognising their ability to ‘archive’ through capture - the affective dimensions of ‘return’ using different forms of creative expression.

Objectives and Methods

To explore alternative ways of archival practice To understand the circulation of materialities, the knowledge that they produce and meanings associated To establish how artwork and craft is shaped by diasporic movements and requirements Qualitative approach, we intend to carry out interviews with Zimbabwean healthcare workers in Britain as well as Zimbabwean artists engaged in the construction of materials that represent ‘return’. Collating the narratives and practices that locate the “things” in everyday cultural practice, revealing the life of “objects” outside the archive as a static space of storage and documentation, thus “enlivening” objects. Through open ended inquiry and conversation, we will elicit from our collaborators the material and nonmaterial aspects of their experiences of mobility. Collaboratively excavating and connecting these different moments and experiences as part of histories of mobility and inhabiting the elsewhere, that do not always seem coherent, but are sutured by the kinds of postcolonial ruptures and crises that produce them - the shared experiences of making life “mhiri kwemakungwa”, “kudiaspora” (abroad).

Workshops and Events

TBC

Activities

Roselyne and the team have undertaken some incredible interviews with project participants focusing on objects. The interviews have brought to the fore ideas around home and how returning to home can be achieved through ways other than a physical, geographical journey. Home might not be a place but could be a feeling, a smell, a taste. Even the act of speaking about home can be a way to return. Here the team have shared a selection of the objects discussed in the interviews, with brief narrative descriptions.

Synopsis and Position

The Prisoners of Love (PoL) project aims to connect UK collection items with their trans-national home peoples and bring emerging artists from diasporic communities in the UK, curators and researchers into conversation, to work responsively with complex histories and material practices, opening out extra-institutional art and archival practices in the form of artwork, story and theory. The project focuses on the relevance of indigenous knowledges; approaches to the archival process in relation to displaced or marginalised people and contexts; and innovative approaches to archiving, specifically through visual arts practice. It works with collaborators from Blackfoot Territory; Ghana; India; UK. It aims to catalyse under-represented artists’ careers and work towards meaningful change in collections, and to connect and strengthen links between people who are geographically separated but culturally related, past ancestors, present day and future generations.

Objectives and Methods

Our project will convene in-person, transdisciplinary conversations and international virtual visits combining workshops, discussion and participatory research on materialities in museum collections. This model for interaction will encourage dialogue, co-creation and social discourse, bringing together narratives and imaginative experiential dialogue, recognising trans-nationalism across home peoples, displaced objects and diasporic communities. We will activate material knowledge immanent in collection items through visits, gatherings, material and conversational exploration. We seek to work between registers often treated as mutually exclusive: aesthetic and investigative, documentary and imaginary.

Workshops and Events

The Prisoners of Love project has an active, live blog , where you can keep up with events and activities of the project. here

Activities

Virtual Visits: Mootookakio’ssin Project, University of Lethbridge Canada & Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, East Sussex, UK. [April 2023] Compound 13 Lab, Dharavi, Mumbai, India & The Horniman Museum and Gardens, London, UK. [Nov 2022, Jan 2023] University of Ghana & Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford UK. April & May 2023 Presentations, Training & Workshops: Words Into Action, Manifesto for ImaginingFutures, Accra, Jan 2023 Imaginando Futuros, Encuentro III Conocimientos Indígenas y Tradicionales, Mexico March 2023 Plastik ka Mela: waste work and the art of survival,Compound 13 Lab, Dharavi, India March 2023 Virtual Visit Technologies: Horniman Museum Collections Centre August 2023 Reflectance Transformation Imaging and Photogrammetric Capture: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Economic Botany Collection. May 2023 The Power In/Of Collections, Berlin Science Week, Nov 2023 Exhibitions: Prisoners of Love, Vestibule, Lethaby Gallery, London Jan 2023 OSTproject residency and exhibition. OPENing Gallery, Angel Court, London Aug & Sept 2023 Mootookakio’ssin, Creating in Space Time, Hess Gallery, University of Lethbridge, Canada. Nov & Dec 2023 Agents of Deterioration, Sideshow, Lethaby Gallery, Jan 2024

Synopsis and Position

This project aims at organising a digital archive of historical documents of rural communities in the Sondondo valley, in South-eastern Peru. In the late twentieth century, the region was subjected to political violence and archives and other forms of historical patrimony were left exposed to loss and destruction. In 2021-2022, a research team supported by the French Institute of Andean Studies identified and digitised archival material in public and private repositories. The collections comprise parish records, fiscal registers, draft labour records, investigations into parish priests’ behaviour, Justice of the Peace papers, among others, dated from the 16thto the mid-20th centuries.

Objectives and Methods

Our goal is to produce tools that could be used locally and by other communities that, because of their isolation and/or marginalisation, have usually been left with limited or no comprehension of their interactions with the State and other institutions. Other materials produced to facilitate access to the archive will be brief historical interpretations of selected documents to stimulate further understanding of the archive and promote historical research. These tools will have the potential to empower rural communities as they are useful not only to understand the past, but also to be better equipped in their activities as citizens today.

Workshops and Events

Workshops in Lima and Sondondo - to be confirmed

Activities

To be confirmed

Synopsis and Position

Based on current research on local visual archives in indigenous Purhépecha communities of Michoacán, this project proposes to organise and mount three photographic exhibitions in the region. The exhibitions, planned in close collaboration with local photographers and cultural promoters, build on contemporary initiatives that delve into visual archives and seek to actualize them through ingenious forms of public circulation.

Objectives and Methods

Together, these three exhibits seek to nourish ongoing efforts to restore community memory following historical processes of territorial,cultural and economic dispossession provoked by natural disasters, as well as by the Mexican state and by increasing drug related violence in the region. Main research methods include interviews, participant observation and collaborative curatorial activities, photographic exhibits and archive preservation workshops.

Workshops and Events

Three photographic exhibits in November 2022, June 2022 and August 2022, in communities of the Purhépecha Meseta and Sierra. One of them will itinerate around the region. Three workshops on archive preservation and one on curatorial activity, dates to be defined.

Activities

The first exhibition (Nov-dec 2022) is based on historical photographs that Purhépecha photographer Prisciliano Diego has collected from local families in an attempt, in his words, to “document our history from our own ways of looking.” The second one (May-July 2023) brings together a selection of studio portraits and landscape photography by 10 contemporary Indigenous photographers working in the region and with whom we have previously collaborated. The third exhibition (August 2023) proposes a conversation between scientific, anthropological and local photographic and documentary archives on the Paricutin volcano’s emergence in 1943 and its current territorial and social aftermaths.

Synopsis and Position

Reviving the Nubian Language is a project aimed at bringing back the endangered language of Nubian peoples. If nothing is done the Nubian language will continue to decline rapidly in the coming decades. The project, through different community interventions will ensure restoration of the Nubian dialect which is under threat. This will create a sense of belonging; solidarity and it will strengthen social relationships within the community. The project will incorporate activities that will re-establish KiNubi which is no longer routinely spoken amongst younger generations and attempt to revive it as a vehicle for communication.

Workshops and Events

We hold regular Language Workshops at a hall in Kibra.

Activities

Regular radio programs take place on the community radio located in Kibra which can be found on our Youtube channel. Clickto view our programs! HERE We hold regular Stakeholders’ engagement meetings in Kibra

Synopsis and Position

In 1988 fire destroyed parts of the audio-visual library of GBC which materials, including the popular Osofo Dadzie drama show which run from the 1970’s -1980’s. Osofo Dadzieis thought to have mirrored Ghanaian national consciousness in terms of contemporary issues of the era. Sadly, it is now only a cherished memory for the generation who watched it as the few materials salvaged after the fires are trapped in an inaccessible technology. Through audio-video documentation, collection and digitization of the surviving materials, this project aims to revive memory, and create access to this cherished program, for today and future generations.

Objectives and Methods

The main objectives of this project are to engage in an audio-visual documentation, cataloguing, cleaning and digitization of remnants of Osofo Dadzie television program which run on Ghana Television from the 1970’s through to the mid 1980’s and make it easily accessible.

Activities

Signed agreement with GBC to access its library facilities (Accra-19th August 2021) A visit and search through National Audio-Visual Library/Archive (Information Services Department-Accra) June 2021 Interviews Mercy Ofei, (Early Actress) Joris Wattenberg (First series writer), and Moses Gyapong (Floor Manager/ Director) Accra, Takoradi 6th, 9th -10th July 2021 Production of a documentary film

Synopsis and Position

‘Seeing Berlin Anew’ is a project that aims to document the experience and perspective of Berlin newcomers (migrants and refugees) by creatively documenting daily activities and social-cultural interactions and settings: conflict and coexistence; inclusion; belonging; and the rhetoric of identity and security. The primary output of the project is a quality publication that explores Berlin at different scales - from the house to the neighbourhood and to the city - presenting a collection of drawings and creative writings informed by the newcomers’ view - with chapters in which newcomers will share the personal experiences of seeing Berlin as a new home and to seeing their old cities through the prism of Berlin with their sense of belonging.

Objectives and Methods

The project aims at supporting archival practice for migrant and refugee stakeholders in Berlin, by presenting lived experience in an engaging publication using illustration and storytelling. The project will be a resource to promote dialogue across stakeholders, both newcomers and existing residents. The methodology of the project is creative and informed; examining the city through the eyes and voice of the ‘newcomers’; using reflection gathered through interviews and personal testimony, digital journaling and reflective city-walking. Photography will be used extensively to capture place and space, and this will be versioned into illustrations focusing in on detail such as food and decoration in the urban space. The publication will have chapters areas of experience and contestation - these include Mobility, Architecture of Displacement, Papers of Displacement, Livelihoods, Housing Styles and Culture.

Workshops and Events

To be confirmed

Activities

Planning and Research Content Development Presentation and Exchange

Synopsis and Position

Memories of colonialism outlasted the colonial period and have remained at home as tales narrated by the old to the young generations, taught in schools, observed on monuments and archived by individuals as colonial tax payment certificates, money, weapons and photographs. Through survival and legacy of colonialism in Mgao – an Imagining Futures funded project, the young generation in school were used to understand transgenerational memories of colonialism. A similar research was conducted between 1964 and 1973 by the University of Dar es Salaam history students which intended to document the Majimaji story. Tape recorders and field notes were used as research tools. These were deposited at the University of Dar es Salaam library-East Africana section in 1970’s, but tape recorders used in the 1960’s have evolved as the result the current devices are unable to read through the old tape. Technological obsoleteness is the problem that this project intends to deal with through digitization of the old to new version to insure longevity of data and online preservation.

Objectives and Methods

The main objective of this project was to digitise oral interviews collected by the University of Dar es Salaam history students between 1960’s and 1970’s about the Majimaji War in order to preserve them for the future, to compare the 2020 interviews data of Mgao that documents memories of colonialism with those of the 1960’s-1970’s, to digitise field notes of the early history students of Tanzania in order to use them in areas where these archived oral traditions have disappeared, and finally is to analyse the recorded ways used to transfer memory of colonialism from one generation to another in order to establish the survival mechanism and legacy.

Workshops and Events

Archaeological Tourism Festival, Ruins, Clean Beaches and Fishing at Mgao Village, Mtwara, Tanzania: 19th September 2021 The purpose of this festival was to demonstrate results of different archaeological researches conducted at Mgao village under Imagining Futures Tanzanian Lab.

Synopsis and Position

This research project aims at addressing the lack of knowledge and appreciation of the dressing cultures and lifestyles in Tanzania. Researching into traditional costume design practice and the accompanying cultural industries will open a glimpse into a hitherto untapped and unappreciated knowledge base. It will also try to take a closer look at the interventionist approaches and impositions on communities by colonialists and newly independent government apparatus and their effects on the development of dress culture of the communities. Archiving this knowledge base in digital form will open this essential information to the public for academic and general consumption.

Objectives and Methods

To trace the transformation of traditional dressing customs and costumes of selected communities in Tanzania To determine the relationship between traditional dressing customs and costumes of selected communities in Tanzania and emerging contemporary ways of dressing To determine the influence of related social and cultural industries on dressing tradition of selected communities in Tanzania To document design and style on dressing traditions of Tanzania

Workshops and Events

Bung’eda burial ceremony, Haydom, Manyara: 21st November, 2021 Community court in Haydom, Manyara: 20th November, 2021 Presentation and Discussions at IF Tz Lab in Dar es Salaam: 27th November, 2021

Activities

Interview with Lushoto District Cultural Officer, Lushoto, Tanga: 12th July, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Mghwashi, Lushoto, Tanga: 13th to 20th July, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Kwemakame, Lushoto, Tanga: 21st to 29th July, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Baga, Bumbuli, Tanga: 2nd to 7th August, 2021 Interview with Arusha City Cultural Officer: 29th September, 2021 Interview with Arusha Meru District Cultural officer: 30th September, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Arumeru, Arusha: 1st to 8th October, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Arusha City, Arusha: 11th to 19th October, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Monduli, Arusha: 20th to 28th October, 2021 Interview with Mbulu District Cultural Officer, Mbulu, Manyara; 29th October, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Dongobesh ward, Manyara: 1st to 6th November, 2021 Visit to Four Corners Cultural Program community museum, Haydom, Manyara; 8th to 11th November, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Haydom ward, Manyara: 15th to 20th November, 2021 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions in Katesh ward, Manyara; 22nd to 25th November, 2021 Presentation and Discussions at IF Tz Lab in Dar es Salaam: 27th November, 2021 Interview with contemporary designer in Dar es Salaam; 2nd, 3rd and 6th December, 2021

Synopsis and Position

Ndanda is a significant centre with both a long written and oral history. The Project will help the Abbey and the community at large to preserve this heritage. The archive will be an eye-opener for the students and researchers. It will assist them in broadening their knowledge on the history of the community. Slowly students will own their narratives. The community will have a new modern system in which they can preserve their historical past. Through digitalization, the Ndanda community will be united with the international community regarding historic preservation.

Workshops and Events

Saturday 26th November 2022 is a proposed date to display some of the archival materials to a group of students here at Ndanda.

Activities

To be confirmed

Synopsis and Position

The project is mainly a production of a documentary film titled: The Righteous Revolutionary, based on the story of the Reverend Beyers Naude. Bearing the Cross of Resistance – a journey in search of justice in Apartheid South Africa Beyers was both a public persona and a man who operated in the dark – a key member of the underground resistance to the Apartheid regime. We are able to tell his story because his closest collaborator and confidant, Horst Kleinschmidt, has an incredible archive revealing the struggles Beyers faced, the decisions he made, the secret ways he communicated with others, both inside and outside of the country when Beyers himself was under banning orders and heavy surveillance. The main objective is to bring to light an important phase of the struggle to overthrow Apartheid and to reflect on the relevance this has in contemporary times. The information that we have unearthed through the unique archives we are drawing on will be of significance not only in South Africa but globally, especially as it will explore the extensive links that were forged internationally, to defeat Apartheid.

Objectives and Methods

We will be drawing on archival material in line with the specified confidentiality parameters that are already in place with those archive collections, as described in the accompanying statement by Hors Kleinschmidt. Participants will be approached to provide us with an in-depth interview to be able to better understand your historical contribution to this story. We have asked that they provide us with access to their personal memorabilia, photographs, newspaper articles, home recordings, and the like for integration into our filmed material. We anticipate that the interview will roughly be of two to three hours duration. It is also possible that we will then come back to them at a later stage for a follow-up interview. We will be approaching participants to share reflections and memories based on their own unique contact with Reverend Beyers Naude. We understand that such contact, at the time of the struggle to overthrow Apartheid, exposed the participants and others in the struggle to extreme personal risk and that some of the information they may wish to share may have been kept secret until now. We, therefore, encourage the participant to consider carefully what they are prepared to share. The data collection will take place across many locations in South Africa, Including Cape town and Johannesburg. And at Stellenbosch University’s Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology (who have given written authorisation for us to film archive material they hold on Beyers Naudé).

Workshops and Events

I participated in the Imagining Futures Tanzania Lab Workshop hosted by Tumaini University Dar es Salaam College and willing to take part in the dissemination workshop at Mgao is planned by the Tanzania Lab

Synopsis and Position

Myth is one of the branches of oral literature that has been researched by several literary scholars. It is a very significant and supreme genre, which portrays the richness of the oral literature knowledge / indigenous knowledge. Myth fulfils in primitive culture an indispensable function: it expresses, enhances, and codifies belief; it safeguards and enforces morality; it guarantees for the efficiency of ritual and contains practical rules for the guidance of man. Myth is thus a vital ingredient in human existence and civilization. One of the roles of myth is to safeguard environment; natural resources, which is reflected in traditional and social practices that enforces rules and regulations of conserving natural environment. These include traditional beliefs, rituals and taboos. Myths consist of narratives that play a vital role of preserving environment in a traditional way. However, despite the fact that various scholars have dealt with myth, information of myth and environment conservation is limited. The project therefore, attempts to examine roles of Tanzanian Myths in safeguarding natural resources and archive this vital information.

Objectives and Methods

The general objective of the project is to study and document the roles of Tanzanian Myths in safeguarding environment. To achieve the main objective, this project is specifically intending: i. To identify myths that are environmentally friendly. ii. To examine the influence of traditional beliefs and taboos in enforcing rules and regulations for environmental preservation iii. To examine contribution of Tanzanian myths in conservation of natural resources. The study will involve interview, site visitation whereby observations can take place and group discussion

Activities

Dodoma Region (Mpwapwa): 31st May – 14th June 2021 & 26th September – 2nd October 2021 The researchers visited Chimagai Dam, interviewed respondents about Sanga ya nzelu myth (Snake myth) and conducted focused group discussion. The researchers surveyed the area and observed the place where the former dam used to exist. In Chimagai Dam, there was a huge snake that was believed to live in Chimagai Dam and it disappeared after the destruction of the Dam. The existence of the snake is related to the existence of water and the vegetation was green. The community respected the Sanga ya Nzelu snake dam because its presence made them fish, farm and perform religious and cultural rituals. They believed that the snake was a symbol of fertility, rebirth, healing and protection. The disappearance of the snake led to drying up of the dam and environmental destruction. They believe that climate change is a result of not following the traditional rules that led to running away of the snake. Mara region (Butiama); 27th June – 2nd July 2021 The researchers visited and surveyed a number of sites. Through the interviews, observation, and focused group discussion we revealed a number of environmental friendly myths including: Nyisawati, Nyakaseka and Nyanzabu Rivers, Bhitare water well and Mibango forest myths. These myths are connected to supernatural powers and community members respect them. For those who do not conform to taboos, traditional rules and regulations set by community elders are severely punished. These places are treated as sacred places where religious rituals and cultural practices are performed. Members are not supposed to anger the ancestors and spirits that live in forests, rivers, mountains or water wells. When the spirits are angered could appear in different forms; snake, aunt, bird, bee, wind or draught. The respect and fear not to anger the ancestors and spirits, contribute to safeguarding natural resources in the community. Butiama is observed to have frequent rainfall and green vegetation because of believing and respecting taboos and community traditional rules and regulations. This can be observed through the pictures. Tanga region (Lushoto): 31st August – September 14th, 2021 The researchers visited and surveyed a number of sites such as Magamba, Malindi Chini, Malindi Juu, Maringo, Rangwi, Malindi Kibaoni villages and Kandee Kamphaa forest. Interviews, focused group discussion and observations were the methods used to collect information. The researchers revealed that the Mzuka myth is also connected to religious rituals and worship. The traditional believers believe that once the sacrifice is offered to the mizimu, people will not die of hunger or diseases, there will be plenty of rainfall and fertile land. They set their altars under the trees like mvumo, mkulo, mwandama, and mshai trees that no one is allowed to cut them because they are valuable to the community. Such trees, caves and rivers have been used for ritual purposes. People are not allowed to cut these sacred trees and dirty water sources and the vegetation around them. Those went against community norms were punished by gods/ancestors. From their beliefs in ancestors and spirit, natural resources are well-maintained. Kandee Kamphaa myth Kandee kamphaa myth has been transmitted orally from one generation to another more than three hundred years ago. The kandee kamphaa is believed to be a young girl; first born, who ran away from her parents and lived in the forest. She is usually seen at night and once someone recognizes her, she disappears. The girl used to live in one of the big tree that has a whole in it. The tree has been there ever since but it is now wearing out because of the parasitic plants, especially the mvumo plant. The respondents revealed that the forest remained untouched because people feared the mysterious girl. Hence the forest remained thick and green. The community believes that this forest is a source of rain that contributes to fertile land. The two myths are environmentally friendly as they contribute to the conservation of natural resources; forests and water sources. Rain-making myth-Lushoto, Mpwapwa and Butiama This myth exists in all studied regions. It is connected to the ancestors’ anger. Sacrifice has to be given to the ancestors for rain to fall. It involves blood shading: goat, sheep or cow. The respected elders perform the rituals. The rainfall is followed by thanksgiving to the elders who performed the rainfall rituals. Traditional beliefs and taboos that enforce rules and regulations for natural resources conservation. Generally, Natural resources are connected to religious rituals, hence the respect of the altars contributes to preservation of natural resources: Community members not to be allowed to go into forest with axe or machete Not to destruct waters sources-unclean pots Taking bath or washing clothes around the water sources Physical punishment Taking resources such as cow, goat, etc. The taboos create fear and stop people from destruction of natural resources. Conclusion Myths in all researched regions, are constructed to safeguarding the environment. Its structure is connected to natural environment; trees, ponds, lakes, mountains, stones and animals. They are all connected to spiritual beings and traditions of a certain community. It is this connection that makes the society to be concerned on safeguarding the natural resources. Therefore, there is significant contribution of myths to conservation of natural resources The study revealed also that there are environmental taboos and traditional regulations that are intended for the ethical use of the environment. They help keep people away from further destructing the environment. The Tanzanian people therefore, have a rich indigenous knowledge system which if used wisely may help in environmental conservation. Project presentation with photographs taken during site visits: .35 -FELISTAS-BERTHA-MAIMUNA FIELD PICTURES IF PROJECT submission 17 dec 21

Synopsis and Position

The proposed project intends to rethink the un-archived memories of slavery and slave trade at Fort Patiko in post-conflict northern Uganda. Fort Patiko or Baker’s Fort, constructed in 1872 by Sir Samuel Baker was used by the Equatorial province governors namely; Sir Charles Gordon and Emin Pasha. This project intends to archive memories, activities, and architecture associated with slave trade at Fort Patiko from slave capture, the period of custody at Patiko, preparation of slaves for onward trekking to create a repository for showing the way of life at Patiko Fort during the slave trade.

Objectives and Methods

To create an archive of the hidden legacies of slavery in northern Uganda at Fort Patiko. Examine the un archived story of the slavery and slave trade in post-conflict situation. Enhance understanding and empathy to reduce inter and intra-community conflict for sustainable peace. The research methods include use of primary data from oral stories, performative orality exploration, focus group discussions and observation. While secondary data will be obtained from existing written records in Libraries like the Uganda Society Library at the Uganda National Museum.

Workshops and Events

Exhibition and research dissemination (Feb 2022): An online exhibition at the Uganda National Museum website starting 15th February 2022 will run for a one month. The Uganda Museum intends to have an exhibition on slave trade memory in Uganda in April 2022 and they will incorporate this into the National display. The dissemination of the research will be through the exhibitions, digital archive which can be accessed through the Kyambogo and Uganda National Museum websites, social media and the conferences Pan African Congress (7th -12th August 2022) and the one in World Archaeological Congress at Prague from 3rd-8th July 2022

Activities

Ethical clearance and organising the research team 30th June 2021, Uganda National Museum Clearance and 15th September 2021 University of Exeter ethical clearance. Survey to establish quantity, quality, extent, formats and condition of existing information related to the project (June-July 2021) Community engagement and Focus Group Discussions (18th -20th Aug 2021) Fieldwork; Collection of oral narratives and performances (26th -30th Sept 2021) Focus group discussions (Nov-Dec 2021) Mapping and photography of the Patiko landscape (26th-30th September 2021) Key Informant Interviews (January 2022) Exhibition and research dissemination (Feb 2022) Report writing and designing digital archive (March 2022)

Synopsis and Position

Tracing Nubian Archives is an intergenerational, cross cultural project that uses African archival practices to engage with the Nubian community in Kenya. The project works with Nubian objects held in U.K. museums, Kenyan landscapes (including WW1 battlefields), Nubian elder archives and oral histories to develop a flexible Nubian archive that tells the story of their rich cultural history and resilience in the face of land right and citizenship injustice. The project engages with the ongoing lands court case the Nubian community in Kibos is involved in, following their unlawful forced eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic. By bringing together Nubian history from the static British archives and the dynamic Kenyan archives – Tracing Nubian Archives uses film, community gatherings and digital repatriation to share their story both within their community and with the wider public. It serves both as a community record and a counter to their story’s previous erasure.

Objectives and Methods

The project team are going to develop a series of films (with documentation where appropriate) for distribution online and also via WhatsApp. The deliberate use of WhatsApp is because its widespread use as a tool allows for the inclusion of people who have been displaced and/ or marginalised. Information is easily shared both locally and internationally and the features of WhatsApp allow it to both broadcast and be a site of conversation through the groups feature. The documents feature allows for the development of an ongoing flexible archive that is accessible to a wide range of people. The process of developing the films is part of the archival practice as it will necessitate the dialogues indicated above while capturing the archives that are emerging through the ongoing land court case. The films will feature Documentation of the ongoing land case in Kibos A history of Nubian peoples pertaining to their context in Kenya Rich Nubian material cultural heritage through their craft practice – these videos will also include an instructional set for younger Nubian community members The process of digital repatriation of Nubian collections from the UK Oral history with Nubian elders Landscape archival work through visits to key sites Multiple dialogues as detailed in the Venn diagram showing the overlapping experience The films will feature several Kenyan languages including Kinubi, Kiswahili, Sheng and English. It is important to note that even though there will be use of subtitles – not all the conversations will be fully translated. The project works to reflect and meet the needs of Nubian communities while working to educate the wider public.

Workshops and Events

The following are the activities have been undertaken by the Tracing Nubian Archive research team. Kibos land case: attending court hearings and site visits – May & July 2021 Two craft workshops: One on artifacts where an elderly woman showed 4 youths how to use a cooking pan called sasi kisira, used for cooking Nubian cuisine by the name kisira; One on beads making called suksuk with an elderly man mentoring 4 youths. 1-2-1 consultation – the team have conducted 24 interviews with Nubian elders and youths to get their context on Nubian history. Community craft workshop – 18th October 2021 at Mchanganyiko hall in Kibera salama location, with 25 community members World war 1 visits – In October 2021 the Project Team visited the Voi war cemetery, the Maktau Indian cemetery, the Taveta military cemetery, the Indian memorial and Salaita Hill.

Synopsis and Position

The contextual and historical influences on storytelling and story taking are critical features of the African oral tradition that are often ignored or minimized in African history and as a form of archive. African societies have been using stories as a form of education and a tool to impart knowledge to youngsters. After the day’s work, mostly evening children would gather around the fireplace and an elder—grandfather or grandmother—would tell a story or a riddle or sing a song with the children. Stories are the foundation of African traditional knowledge. Despite the complex and often contentious history of African storytelling, their oral traditions have not been explored to reveal the depth of their lived experiences and the way those experiences and knowledge inform the community and how it archives the society’s culture.

Objectives and Methods

The objectives of the study included: Children understanding on traditional story telling as one of the archives that is under threat. Education officers supports traditional storytelling in curriculum preparations and practices. To know whether teachers, guardians/parents nurture their children towards the use of traditional storytelling. To comprehensively document and digitise stories, riddles and folktales from selected primary school children in Dar es Salaam. The methodology of the study is qualitative approach with detailed interviews and focus group discussions.

Workshops and Events

Storytelling is primarily a foundation of qualitative research. It is a method rooted in oral traditions. The study purposely sampled 3 public schools – Msasani B primary school, Mikocheni primary school and Ushindi primary school in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam Tanzania. The methodology in this study included detailed interviews and Focus Group discussions with teachers, Education Officers, parents and pupils. Pupils were allowed to retell their stories, songs and/or riddles that they may have learnt either from their parents or guardians and/or teachers. Field notes, audio and video recordings were gathered and photographs were taken as records.

Synopsis and Position

This project seeks to document and study age-old sacred, secular, and ceremonial vernacular songs, including dirges, as archives of public history and to and develop an inventory of these songs. The study will cover the affective character and relational qualities of the songs (Baker and Collins 2016; Samuel 1994), motivations of composers, circumstances under which the songs were made, the meaning and functions of the songs, the contexts in which the songs function, and how the songs have been preserved and passed on. Our goal is to understand how such songs promote peace and social harmony and engender social justice. Based on the assumption that songs are archival and are subjects of heritage preservation, we shall work with locally acclaimed songsters in Jamestown, a heterogeneous settlement in Accra, Ghana. The study will offer us the opportunity to become familiar with the social environment in which we will undertake our “Imagining Ghanaian Futures” project and to identify challenges that may confront us in the course of the project. Lessons we shall learn from the project will enable us to fine-tune our approaches to un/archiving information relating to conflict management and peacebuilding in Ghana. We expect the results of this study to enhance our understanding of how knowledge is created, shaped, owned, disseminated, and preserved through song.

Objectives and Methods

In this project, we seek to document and develop a digital inventory of age-old sacred, secular and ceremonial vernacular songs as archives of public history and study how such songs promote peace and social harmony and engender social justice. We shall investigate the affective character and relational qualities of these songs (Baker and Collins 2016; Samuel 1994) in relation to the contexts within which the songs are created and used, the meanings and functions of the songs, and how the songs are preserved and transmitted in time and space. We shall approach our study with the assumption that songs are archival and are subjects of heritage preservation. Songs, like music, will be seen as media of codifying, archiving, and disseminating information on valuable elements of public history (Long et al 2018) and as a means by which people negotiate and renegotiate their daily lives. In our field exercise, we shall use snowballing to identify locally acclaimed songsters with whom we shall partner to undertake the study. We shall engage each of the songsters in conversational interviews and document performances of songs they choose and the social contexts in which they perform. Ethical protocols of the University of Ghana, as well as local community protocols, will guide our work. Before engaging the songsters, we shall explain the details and purpose of the study to them and seek their consent and kind permission. We shall abide by any customary rites and regulations that may be associated with any of the songs and their performances and maintain the confidentiality of informants where required.

Synopsis and Position

The aimwasto create a book that speaks.Spoken on Country by aBarkindjielder and poet, in dialogue with two white poets andfiveBarkindji, Nyempa, Kunya andMurrawarriinterlocutors, taped and then transcribedin the form of a playscript,the bulk ofA Book that Openscomprisesanarchive ofconversation-based knowledge about river management down the Barka / Darling River, and about care of the ancient fish-traps at Brewarrina.The evidence of extensive Aboriginal management of rivers,desertsand forests prior to 1788 is there,but it has been widely ignored by a settler society anxious tomaintainrights over a continentinitiallyclaimed as “unused” land. Focussing on the material andoralevidence of suchcare for Country, the projectconstitutesa practice-based experiment in archiving the kinds of dialogic intellectual practice that indigenous thinkers have sustainedon and around theSouthern islandcontinent forformillennia.Bookend chapters record the project team’s improvisedoralpresentationson the projectin Canberra,bothprior to and afterthese conversations with traditional owners, whichmakes forestranging parallels between conversationalintellectual practiceon campus and out on Country.

Objectives and Methods

By insisting that every word itcontainsinitially be spoken, thebook that forms theproject’s centrepieceaimsto bringbothindigenousand academicconversational practiceto the fore of our literary experience. In the process,itseeksto open new angles on just what a book might be.

Synopsis and Position

Eight kilometers south of Damascus city center located Yarmouk camp, the biggest unofficial Palestinian refugee camp comparing to 12 others in Syria and 68 camps in the Middle East. There are disputed sources regarding the number of people living there, However, in some estimations, the camp is argued to have about 600.000 people. Today the camp stands empty after being massively destroyed between 2013 and 2018. After 2018 the Syrian government has indicated that Palestine refugees will be allowed to return to the camp in the future. The procrastination by the Syrian government continued till June 2020 when Damascus municipality announced the approval of the new masterplan Nr. 105 of Yarmouk camp. The municipality prepared an evaluation plan for the status of the building, on which it proposes that only 40% of the building could be reused while 60% of the camp area has to be razed to the ground and rebuilt according to the new Masterplan. The plan ignored the core identity of the camp erasing some of the main streets that shaped the memory of the camp and represented the main economic veins and gathering points for its communities. Over 10,000 objections were submitted by the former inhabitants, Palestinian organisations, and civil communities, forcing Damascus municipality to put the plan on hold in September 2020. There is a need to shift the discussion over the Yarmouk camp from the technicality of the master plan and reconstruction towards more empathy and understanding of the importance of the camp as an essential component to the memory of both Palestinians and Syrians in Damascus city. Yarmouk is not only a refugee camp as perceived by many, rather than a historical milestone of the social cohesion between Syrians and Palestinians over 50 years of living together. This camp formed an incubator of interactions and co-existence between various communities.

Objectives and Methods

The project aims at telling the story of Yarmouk Camp, the biggest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and the middle east. The storytelling approach aims to present the memory of this camp from a different perspective. A data-driven story by providing information about the history and development of this camp since its existence; a policy-driven story that is based on the policy issues regarding its reconstructing after the conflict in Syria, and an art-based story where artists will archive their memories about this camp through their lenses. The project aims to explore the level of engagement by urbanists, artists, and activists in the discourses of memory in Syrian cities and neighborhoods that are under threat of removal due to the so-called reconstruction. The project will form a baseline for a broader engagement on a regional level.

Workshops and Events

Raising awareness explainer (Graphics Interchange Format) to introduce Al-Yarmouk camp and shed light on its history, which role it had in Damascus city, and a briefing of the recently proposed reconstruction policies concerning it. Webinar on the memory of Yarmouk and the current challenges. This webinar will host members of Syrian organisations and urban activists as well as artists to share experiences and concepts about the memory Yarmouk and discuss collectively what is crucial, important, and relevant to preserve the identity of this camp. The webinar will be held online after the publication of the GIF. Competition of Pop-Art graphics: will be announced by the end of the webinar. The competition will be held online to submit one piece of Pop-Art graphics that captures one or more elements of the Yarmouk memory. The competition will take place over 6 weeks. A jury of 3 members and the Syrbanism team will evaluate the submitted works. There will be a symbolic financial prize for the winner. All works of the pop-art graphics will be used later in an online exhibition.

Synopsis and Position

Our project integrated archiving into the everyday life of Sotuta, a Maya community in Yucatan, Mexico. Over a year, fourteen residents, almost all women from a wide age range, documented the foodways of the town, involving their family members, friends, and neighbours. Each chose the topic they would document, which included medicinal and culinary recipes, kitchen gardens, the wilderness, the relationship between humans and plants and animals, agricultural practices, festivities and traditions, and memories of past life experiences, among others. Together, they collected over 4000 images, videos, and handwritten documents, they restored a mural documenting Sotuta’s embroiderers, cross-stitched calendars, embroidered memory journals, and hand sewed dolls. They created the multimedia archive by incorporating their record collection into their routines. That is, they integrated self-archiving into their life, firmly positioning themselves as historical actors through the quiet processes of the everyday. Through regular meetings, community workshops, and an exhibition, in partnership with with local grassroots project Cultiva Alternativas de Regeneración, Solares Huertas Agroforestales,andComunidad escuela campesina de agricultura regenerativa y agroforestería Maya,we also created spaces of intergenerationaltsikbal, intimate dialogue, to share experiences, records, memories, and emotions, reinforcing collective memory. With this, the project intertwined the tangible with the intangible. Living and archiving Sotuta’s foodways has helped revitalise sustainable practices for food sovereignty and the defence of Maya identity, memory, territory, and ways of living.
 

Objectives and Methods

Through workshops that will follow the Tzolk’in count of 260 days (the time it takes for corn to mature), the community will gestate a transmedia archive from text, audio, video, and image with memory objects, such as embroideries, and interventions in public spaces. The archive seeks to be a source of inspiration, reflection, and agency, and it will be a central tool in the regenerative agroforestry school and the women’s kitchen gardens initiative for food sovereignty as they counter the threats of climate change, urbanisation, poverty, migration and the abandonment of agricultural and culinary practices. With this, we seek to foster a way of experiencing the present, with a consciousness of its ties to the past, and an understanding of how one can shape the future.
 

Workshops and Events

In December 2022, we held an open community workshop to diagnose and self-reflect on the current state of memory-keeping and set the direction, parameters, and objectives of the project. This was followed up by another workshop in March 2023 to evaluate, reflect upon, and adjust the course of action. Finally, in November 2023, we presented the results in an exhibition open to the public to collectively analyse and systematise experiences and celebrate results. These community events allowed us to trace collective paths to reinvigorate locally grounded alternative and sustainable practices both through action and through memory work.

Activities

Record collection took place in the quotidian life of the participants. They then met regularly over home-cooked meals consisting of traditional dishes and ingredients grown by the participants themselves. The meals opened a space of tsikbal to troubleshoot problems, learn from each other and get inspired. As their projects evolved, participants reported a transformation in their understanding of maintaining their foodways alive, acknowledging their roles as historical actors, and gaining tools to continue to do so. They also observed tangible changes in their lives, with individuals implementing newfound knowledge, such as using medicinal plants or altering agricultural practices, as well as gaining a sense of appreciation for their knowledge, experiences, and wisdoms, as well as that of others.
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