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WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Museums and archives as scenarios for symbolic reparations for Afro-descendants in Colombia

presenters

    Sofía Natalia GONZÁLEZ AYALA

    Nationality: Colombia

    Residence: Cundinamarca

    Researcher

    Presence:Face to Face/ On Site

    Laura Daniela RIVERA PUELLO

    Nationality: Colombia

    Residence: Colombia

    Researcher

    Presence:Face to Face/ On Site

Keywords:

Museums, archives, symbolic reparations, Afro-descendents, Colombia

Abstract:

In this paper we approach what it implies and means to assume the responsibility of carrying out reparations for those who today suffer the consequences of violence against enslaved people within the framework of the Transatlantic Enslaving Trade in Colombia. To do this, we focus on artistic, archival and museological practices and experiences and take into consideration that Afro-reparations (Mosquera Rosero-Labbé 2007) concern society as a whole. These would require, for example, that present-day museological and archival institutions publicly and explicitly recognize the current consequences of structural and direct racism (Moreno Figueroa and Wade 2022) and the historical accumulation of privileges derived from the institution of slavery and the Transatlantic Trade (Mosquera Rosero-Labbé 2007: 237). Within this framework, we will talk about the methodological and material possibilities that Colombian museums, archives and artistic practices offer to respond to these demands for reparations both for recent and historical violence. We seek to offer guidelines and reflections about the role played by both institutions and the individuals who work in, with or for them. Likewise, we consider that for reparation measures to be effective, it is necessary to combine their individual and collective dimensions, since “compensation for past violence is causally linked to social transformation” (SRRP 2017). In sum, we ask ourselves how archives, museums and exhibitions can function as effective reparation measures. We consider the consequences that the Enslaving Trade and the colonial project that gave life to it (World Conference against Racism, Durban, 2001) have had in the absence of recognition, representation, participation and access to rights for people of African descent, particularly in those contexts. Likewise, about what the victims of the multiple forms of racism require to feel restored and the role of Afro-descendant and non-Afro-descendant audiences in such scenarios.