DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Embodied Performance Practices in Processes of Reconciliation, Construction of Memory and Peace in Choco and Medio Pacifico, Colombia

Project disclaimer

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Description

This project examines the role that embodied performance practices have on post conflict memories in order to aid the processes of reconciliation and peace-building among the majority Afro-Colombian communities affected by the armed conflict in four municipalities in Chocó and el Pacifico Medio. Its main objective is to co-create a digital archive with the vulnerable communities most affected by the armed conflict that features a collection of their oral testimonies, memorabilia, video footage of workshops and discussions, and embodied performance work. This project asks the following research questions: 1. What is the impact of embodied artistic practices in the discourses of post-war reconciliation in Colombian context? 2. How do the communities and the performance artists co-create memories together through embodied practices? 3. What role do these practices have for the vulnerable communities affected by the armed conflict? 4. How will these archived practices intervene in established discourses around memory, trauma, and practices of reconciliation? This investigation into the embodied practices led by Colombian arts and performance makers in these four municipalities considers the impact that hearing and learning about one another's memories and experiences via the digital archives will have. It seeks to facilitate a space for critical reflection and reconciliation among the marginalized vulnerable stakeholders while also proposing innovative collaborative models for community building and of co-creating an archive with vulnerable stakeholders. This can enrich the field of dance, theatre and performance studies by showcasing embodied work done by communities normally kept out of official disciplinary and archival frameworks. By working with our key project partner, Corp-Oraloteca (a research, documentation and dissemination center of the Technological University of Chocó, which seeks to identify, make visible, valorize, and safeguard the oral, sonic and embodied expressions and knowledges of the peoples of the Colombian Pacific), as well as other artists, teachers, community arts workers, dancers, and members of these affected communities, this project will create digital archives about the embodied practices, the arts workers, and the communities affected by the armed conflict. It will then disseminate these archives through a variety of events: community events in the affected areas in Colombia, an event at the headquarters of Corp-Oraloteca in Quibdó, workshops at Universidad de Antioquia, and university talks and lectures in both Colombia, UK and the US. The goal of this research project is to generate spaces (virtual and actual) so that the communities affected by the conflict can use their shared experiences in order to help develop their own community awareness projects, and generate interest in and pursuit of embodied methodologies that can help with the complex processes of reconciliation, reparations, and the construction of peace. Memory functions as a mobilizing factor for experiences, sensibilities, cultural expression, and everyday practices within these communities. In other words, how did citizens not only experience the armed conflict, but how do they remember and memorialize it now? Additionally, to recuperate or reconstruct postwar memories implies the evocation, creation and materialisation of ideas that these communities have about what their culture is and what is important to remember. By working alongside artists already engaged in embodied practices in/with the affected communities, this research project facilitates a way for members of the affected communities to make sense of their present historical moment through embodied engagements with their respective memories. Through the digital archive and community events produced through this project, we anticipate the creation of spaces for dialogic and embodied exchanges in pursuit of peace and reconciliation.

Objectives

The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Colombia

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