CEAA
The Research Center for African and Afroamerican Studies at the Intercultural University of Indigenous Nations and Peoples Amawtay Wasi aims to investigate, generate knowledge, and promote awareness of historical, cultural, ancestral, political, social, and economic aspects of the African diaspora in the Americas and Africa within the academic and scientific realm. In pursuit of building a plurinational and intercultural state that ensures the collective rights of nations and peoples, as well as their well-being.
The center is currently undertaking the project “Research on Memory Sites in the Ancestral Territory of Valle del Chota-La Concepción and Salinas: Heritage and Safeguarding” to revive the memory in the Afrochoteño ancestral territory. This project focuses on the tangible and intangible legacies of the slave trade and enslavement from the 16th century onwards. The aim is to conserve, rehabilitate, safeguard, and preserve proposed collective memory sites. Historical gaps in acknowledging material and immaterial contributions of Afrodescendants reveal an oppressive system perpetuating a state of cognitive subjugation. This project is justified by recognizing the contributions of Afro-descendant populations, including their struggles and marronage, to the construction of nation-states as part of the historical debt owed to this community.
The research addresses the historical demands of the Afrodescendant people, especially the Afroecuadorian community, concerning the recognition and conservation of spaces that house historical, ancestral, and collective memory. The investigation proposes a memory circuit integrating slave factories, fortresses, old hacienda houses, mills, houses of enslavers, ancient cemeteries, and sites of physical cruelty as spaces of resistance and resilience. This circuit starts from the first free palenques in the ancestral territory, holding significant symbolic, social, and collective memorial value.
The project involves a multidisciplinary research team primarily combining history, anthropology, and archaeology. Collaborating with academic partners like the Latin American Historical Archaeology Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston and social organizations in the Afrochoteño Ancestral Territory, including the National Coordinator of Black Women-Carchi Chapter, Federation of Black Communities and Organizations of Imbabura and Carchi, Ancestral Territory Coordinator Network, Family Black Research Center, and knowledgeable individuals from proposed memory sites.
