BY
DR. PAULINA TREJO MENDEZ
MAPPING THE BODY-TERRITORY: A LATIN AMERICAN FEMINIST METHODOLOGY
THIS MANUAL IS A PROJECT OF THE SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS LECTORATE OF THE AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS (AHK).
INTRODUCTION
During the Easter School about gentrification organized by the Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts Lectorate of the AHK in 2024, we used a creative methodology to map the body-territory. This methodology allows groups and individuals to reflect on their relationship with the territories they inhabit
The methodology used comes from the work of the feminist Latin American collective “Miradas Críticas del Territorio desde el feminismo” (feminist critical perspectives of the territory) who created a beautiful manual entitled “Mapeando el Cuerpo Territorio” that can be downloaded for free in: “territorioyfeminismos org” The language of this manual is Spanish, which is why, in 2019 the Autonomous Feminist Summer School collective based in Bonn, Germany, translated the ideas while adding their own experience in using this methodology in a Zine format
The zine is bilingual written in Spanish and German and can also be found online in la catartica The title is: “Cuerpxs-territorixs rebeldes” (rebellious bodies-territories: weaving across worlds in resistance) This zine was used during the 2024 Easter school on gentrification in Amsterdam as a guide to do the mapping of the body-territory
The methodology has a history and a place that can be located, not only within feminist geography, but within the Latin American landscape and epistemologies. What this means is that women who try to understand and make visible the ways in which their bodies are affected by the violence that happens consequence of mining or development projects, have developed meaningful tools These tools are also available to us city dwellers, we also experience the good (building community, joy, walking through parks ), the painful (discrimination, gentrification, racism), the bad (violence, lack of access and exclusion)
In which ways are we affected by these daily experiences? How do these shape or influence the ways in which we inhabit the cities we are part of? The mapping of the body territory allows to ask these and other questions. More importantly it allows to make it visible and tangible.
“BODY-TERRITORY”
A concept from indigenous feminisms from
Latin America
To understand what this concept means let us look at what the women from the collective “Miradas criticas” shared in their guide.
“We think of the body as our first territory and we recognize the territory in our bodies: when the places we inhabit are violated, our bodies are affected, when our bodies are affected, the places we inhabit are violated.
These teachings were shown to us by women from many parts of Latin America, especially from the rural and indigenous world. We want to rescue the wisdom of our women ancestors who thought that our bodies were full of sensibility, because they give life and have memory. Through the senses we connect with the territories: we hear what the river tells us, we talk to the farms, the cornfields, and we laugh with the birds; in other words, the senses are what connect us with the territories.”
“BODY-TERRITORY”
Lorena Cabnal is a Communitarian feminist of Maya-xinka ancestry from Guatemala.
Feminismos diversos: Feminismo comunitario
Cabnal speaks of the “body-territory-earth”.
Communitarian feminism is an indigenous feminism that has Aymara and Maya indigenous roots.The different indigenous nations that exist have their own philosophies and conceptualizations. Cabnal makes emphasis on the “plurality of worldviews”, saying that “there is not a single one that homogenizes life and cultural practices”
Cabnal speaks about te need to “defend” and “recover” the body-territory-earth as a feminist proposal anchored in the historical struggles of indigenous peoples in the region. These include the need to recover their territories because that is “where life manifests.”
About the former Cabnal mentioned:
“I do not defend my territory only because I need natural goods to live or to leave a dignified life for other generations In the approach of recovery and historical defense of my territory-body-earth, I assume the recovery of my expropriated body, to generate life, joy, vitality, pleasures and the creation of liberating knowledge for decision making, and this force I link with the defense of my territory-earth, because I do not conceive this woman's body without a space on earth that dignifies my existence and promotes my life in fullness”
Join the Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts Lectorate in a collective research on questions of gentrification, segregation, racism and re-membering in Nieuw-West
RE-MEMBERING NIEUW WEST
Easter school and research project
Re-Membering Nieuw-West is about returning agency to the people of NieuwWest, who are dealing with gentrification in their neighborhoods This research consists of three research tracks: People's Plan is about exchanging strategies and tactics with citizens in North and South-East for a People's Plan to mobilize and activate the young generation of Nieuw-West in particular
The second track (Cycle Tours) starts from the need to write and share a 'people's history' of Nieuw-West Through bike tours and personal stories, participants will engage with and build on the histories of Nieuw-West In the third track (Ghetto Conversations), stories are collected for a possible future 'counter-monument' about the 'riots' of 1998 on the August Allebéplein
On 29, 30 and 31 March, the Lectorate organized an 'Easter School', led by Tayfun Balçik The research team, together with a diverse group of residents, activists and a number of students from the Academy of Architecture, went on a research trip to Nieuw-West
These are some of the guiding questions considered by participants and Tayfun, who grew up in Nieuw-West
1What was it like here, in the so-called 'suburb' or 'disadvantaged neighbourhood' in the nineties and early 2000s?
2 Why did the new residents rebel in 1998?
3 What happened after that and what direction should the district take?"
HOW TO REMEMBER NIEUW WEST?
Research is a process, but also a story that we need to tell. For us at the SJDA Lectorate, the how is as important as the answers we might find, and the how always comes from a specific place.
Tayfun introduced his life story and the long time he had to wait for social housing His story is the story of many young people in Nieuw-West He also took us on a bike ride along the places where he used to live
During the Easter school we talked about the 'riots' of 1998 A table full of books and newspaper articles showed how the socalled 'Moroccan uprising' in Nieuw West made the news and how it was later investigated Tayfun was present when this took place and could share his own account of the events
As part of the “memory-making” process we went to the Piet Mondriaanplein where a young boy was brutally arrested in 1998. This is what sparked it all. From there we walked to the roundabout that was occupied later that day, in response to the police violence. We stood on the roundabout with the participants, and reflected on what happened twenty-six years ago throughout this experience we looked at the old and new buildings on this now “popular” part of the city
OUR GUIDES
ZINE BY GERMAN BASED COLLECTIVE: ESCUELA AUTONOMA FEMINISTA.
This bilingual zine manual presents the methodology of the mapping of the bodyterritory It introduces questions that arise when using it within a different context from the one where the methodology originated This context is Germany, by people mostly from this country and that are based in an urban setting It reflects on the implications of translating concepts across cultures
EASTER SCHOOL RESEARCH ETHICS
Nobody is “neutral”. Our own stories are part of the research. We don’t do research on people, but with them.
Consent.
Share materials (photos, findings).
MANUAL BY COLLECTIVE MIRADAS CRITICAS DEL TERRITORIO DESDE LOS FEMINISMOS
In their guide, this feminist collective introduced themselves as follows:
“We are activists, enthusiastic, energetic people who believe in transformation and the power of thinking about life in community We were born in different countries of the world (Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay) and we met in Quito 5 years ago, a place that became our space of conspiracies. We place ourselves in Latin American and Caribbean feminism as a place of struggle, invention, creation, transformation and thought. Our gazes weave the link between diverse bodies and territories.”
METHODOLOGY
“Thinking collectively is our political and poetic commitment and a feminist legacy that we do not want to lose.”
Mapping the body-territory
BACKGROUND
The methodology developed by Miradas Criticas is founded in collective sharing, it is meant to be adapted and not imposed as a model It is influenced by feminist popular education that parts from personal experiences and centers women’s embodied knowledge This implies that it recognizes that the body “knows” In their guide the mapping comes after other activities that enhance the senses to bring bodily awareness
DURING THE EASTER SCHOOL
The methodology was introduced in the last day of the Easter school By then, we had shared our stories, learned from Tyfun’s personal account, walked and biked on the streets of Nieuw West This allowed to open up space for the work the mapping requires which is both individual in the sense that each person knows from their bodily’s experience, but also collective.
MAPPING
Miradas Criticas mentioned that the methodology aims at exploring “how our body is the territory we inhabit and how the territory we inhabit shapes our body” What comes to mind when hearing the word “map”?
With this methodology the body is the starting point and it is interwoven with the place where one is located The silhouette of the body will be the map where one can become aware of their own body and how body-territory intertwine in the struggles for emancipation, self-determination, social justice, healing and joy.
Miradas Criticas del Territorio desde el feminismo
METHODOLOGY
“Whe with a mapping of the body-territory, wounds, marks, special memories, places, spaces, knowledges, doings appear; that means, our memory and our personal histories.”
Miradas criticas del Territorio desde el Feminismo
Mapping the body-territory
THE BODY MATTERS
Bodies are diverse and these differences in societies where systems of oppression operate, translate to unequal access to power, to resources, to a life with dignity
The methodology to map the bodyterritory can be an individual or a collective map When doing a collective map it is best if the participants share/belong to the same place which can be a neighborhood, the City, their University What happens when we map a territory that we share/defend collectively?
MAPPING
The methodology involves drawing a body silhouette from head to feet In the case of a group silhouette, a person can lie down on a large piece of paper for someone else to draw their shape In the case of individual mapping, every person will choose how to draw their silhouette on a piece of paper It is advisable to use rather large paper-sheets than letter size
It is also important to leave space at the end for collective reflections on the different themes that we observed, if something is repeated, or what stands out the most.
THE MAKING OF THE MAPS
Duration: 3-4 hours
MATERIAL
Papers of various sizes, large sheets. Colored pencils, paintbrushes, paints, pencils, markers. Magazines to cut out and scissors. Glue.
Fabrics
Material useful for drawing or making crafts
In the silhouette we draw examples of the spaces that we inhabit on a daily basis, it can be the house, the neighborhood, the park... What places can we identify? Where do we locate those places in our body/silhouette? It is important to identify and mark the paths we usually take considering where do we locate these on the body? Is there a park, a canal, uncultivated land, building? Where on the body do we locate these? Is there a street, the ocean, a river, a forest? Where in that body are these located?
Afterwards people are asked to signal in those body-territory maps, the places that they do not like, where they might have felt insecure or experienced violence, pain, anger Where in the silhouette that they have created are these places located? It can be a street, a part of our own home are there conflicts in that territory that affect us on a daily basis?
Conflicts in rural and urban settings tend to differ, but that does not mean these are disconnected. In the city there can be crime, gentrification, social exclusion, racism and sexism. In which ways do these impact our bodies?
02.
After locating these on our silhouette, it is time to also recognize on that bodyterritory where collective struggle, rebelliousness, joy, healing are located? Is it within the community, neighborhood, on the streets, community center, the kitchen? Where and how are these expressed? Through words, an image, a song, on the heart, the stomach, the feet?
TO CLOSE
After locating everything, take a moment to see your own map and feel wether something else needs to be added.
After everyone has finished, the maps can be placed at the center so everyone can see these Alternatively, One by one participants can place their maps at the center after sharing their maps with the rest of the group
If the map was a collective silhouette then everyone can share what they added as well as why Although it is important to remember that participants are not forced to share if they choose not to
COLLECTIVE
REFLECTION
03.
This a very important part of the process that involves listening to what emerged after hearing others share their maps. And by placing these bodies-territories next to each other.
Participants are encouraged to share aspects that they recognize from other maps, this can also be in the form of a drawing, or written word that can be placed next to the map
Some participants will have plenty to share, others need time or silence to process what has emerged Each experience is unique and there are no wrong responses for as long as everyone is respectful of each other
FINAL THOUGHTS
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO COLLECTIVELY MAP OUR BODYTERRITORY, OUR FEARS, WOUNDS, HOPES AND STORIES?
LEARNING WITH EACH OTHER
The Lectorate brings healing as an aim within and beyond the educational setting. Healing requires embodied knowledge that involve becoming aware of the feelings evoked by listening to other people’s stories, or “de-centering” the dominant story Harm, healing and ‘political truths about the world’ exist simultaneously on our bodies (Levin Morales, 2013)
The mechanisms of social exclusion are not “abstract” but grounded in the everyday experiences of people This is why collective work that brings light to these is so meaningful
TOWARDS COLLECTIVE HEALING
We understand healing as the “process” or journey that happens when engaging through artistic practices/research that use embodied knowledge for transformation of unequal relations This is because embodied knowledge makes tangible the emotional aspects connected to the experiences of exclusion
Such exclusion is linked to the dominant systems of oppression (modernity/coloniality) and to the “dominant story” (Cairo, 2021) healing can look like witnessing/holding other stories told by those who are part of marginalized communities And collectively reflecting on how these stories touch us/transform us and are linked to our own
ABOUT THE SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS LECTORATE
SJDA
The Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts Research Group ran from 2022-2024 under the guidance of Dr. Aminata Cairo and Rosa Te Velde. It aimed to contribute to knowledge development around social justice within artistic practice, education and research, both within and outside the AHK.
HOW WE DO RESEARCH
SJDA takes part in collective practicebased research bringing together students and researchers As well as engaging with plural society blurring the boundaries of where knowledge belongs, who has access to it, and how it should be generated
An example of the former is the many ways in which SJDA disseminates research which include academic and nonacademic formats such as podcasts, videos, and zines Our knowledge, program, and projects aim to contribute to the transformation of communities, within as well as outside of the institution
WHAT DOES "SOCIALLY JUST RESEARCH" LOOKS LIKE WITHIN ARTS EDUCATION?
WHAT SOCIAL ISSUES NEED TO BE ADDRESSED?
HOW?
PLURAL SOCIETY
Is a term that acknowledges the need to make space for non-dominant embodied knowledge and practices by marginalized communities It is inspired in the ideas of the pluriverse by Anthropologists Marisol de la Cadena (2015) and Arturo Escobar (2016) These ideas are useful to understand that we live in a plural world in terms of ways of thinking-knowing-being
Plural society emphasizes the pluralities of voices and stories that exist within society, particularly those that have been historically undermined or erased It considers how this has happened through the establishment of social hierarchies that continue in place where some people are valued more than others It recognizes the urgent need to dismantle these
E R E N C E S
E F
RCairo, Aminata. 2021. Holding Space: A storytelling approach to trampling diversity and inclusion Amsterdam: Aminata Cairo Consultancy.
Escobar, Arturo 2016 Autonomía y Diseño, La Realización de Lo Comunal. Popayán: Universidad del Cauca.
la Cadena, Marisol De 2015 Earth Beings, Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Levins Morales, Aurora. 2013. Kindling, Writings on the Body. Cambridge MA: Palabrera Press.
Trejo Mendez, Paulina 2021 “Decolonizing Healing: Weaving the Curandera Path.” Globalizations.
