Memories in Motion: Bodily Genealogies of the Afrodiasporic Imaginary as Technologies of Life

Objective

Memories in Motion: Bodily Genealogies of Afrodiasporic Imaginaries as Technologies of Life (GEOBODIES) investigates how Afrodiasporic bodily techniques—such as dance, song, midwifery, and oral traditions—function as living technologies that sustain life, activate memory, and shape restorative futures in contexts marked by violence and displacement. The project engages Afro-descendant communities displaced by armed conflict in Colombia, particularly those involved in the Museo del Viernes Negro (Bogotá), and cultural collectives in Cameroon during the secondment, to analyse how embodied practices transmit knowledge, restore social bonds, and recompose memory. Using a Foucauldian genealogical lens, it traces the historical trajectories, contemporary uses, and affective resonances of these practices as archives of resistance and repair. The methodology combines sensory and multimodal ethnography, expanded curating, community museography, and archival research at the Archivo General de Indias (Seville) to examine genealogies of suppression, transformation, and persistence under colonial rule. Structured into six work packages, the fellowship unfolds in three phases: situated fieldwork in Colombia and Cameroon; comparative analysis and training at the University of Granada; and a non-academic placement at the Cité internationale des arts (Paris). Rooted in Black feminist and decolonial epistemologies, GEOBODIES will deliver affective mappings, a methodological guide for community museologies, cultural policy recommendations, and an open-access multimodal platform. By addressing critical gaps in Afrodiasporic and memory studies in the Global South, the project contributes to Horizon Europe by advancing inclusive, cross-sectoral, and socially engaged research. It strengthens EU–Africa–Latin America cooperation and develops transferable, non-extractive methodologies for cultural institutions and community memory spaces.