Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation introduces Adwa, an oral museum interpretation developed in my PhD research at Kingston University London (Techne awarded). Rooted in African and Black feminist scholarship, it challenges visual biases in museums, advocating storytelling as a decolonized, reparative methodology for amplifying marginalized voices.

Paper Abstract:

While scholarship has long explored the need to decolonize museum practices, sight-based methodologies continue to dominate these institutions, often failing to amplify the powerful knowledge of Indigenous and marginalized communities. Drawing on Nicholas Mirzoeff's concept of “white sight,” this presentation examines the risks associated with uncritically displaying colonial visual material in museum and archive practices, proposing an alternative methodology grounded in orality that centers Afro-descendant epistemologies.

Rooted in Black feminist and African scholarship such as Tina Campt, Saidiya Hartman, and Amadou Hampâté Bâ, this approach highlights how oral traditions challenge dominant narratives and counter ocular-centrism bias. The presentation introduces Adwa, an oral museum interpretation developed as part of my practice-based PhD research at Kingston University London (Techne awarded). This project emerged from the acritical access of the colonial photographic collection of the former-Colonial Museum (IsIAO) in Rome and reflects a biographical need to understand beloging and identity in a diasporic post-migratory nation.

Adwa reclaims storytelling as a methodology, fostering deeper connections between audiences and historical events while promoting a compassionate and reparative understanding of the past. It demonstrates how african-inspired methodologies, like oral traditions, can be powerful tools for self-expression, the reclamation of communication power, and epistemic transformation.

This presentation intersects visual culture, african thinking, and postcolonial museum studies, advocating for museums and archives to function as agents of change. It introduces a decolonized framework that amplifies Indigenous and non-Western knowledge, employing innovative curatorial strategies to redefine museum practices.