Equatorial Guinea

During the month of July 2023, a delegation of the (Tr)african(t)s team, consisting of Laida Memba Ikuga, Alba Valenciano Mañé, and Sarai Martín López, travelled to Equatorial Guinea to present the project and the preliminary results of their research. We were able to meet with the Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CICTE), and the Ministry of Culture, whom we updated on the status of the research and the main characteristics of the Guinean collections of the Catalan public museums with whom we work. We also met with institutions and professionals in the cultural and museum field, such as the directors of thr Equatoguinean Cultural Centres in Malabo and Bata,and the director of the gallery of the Malabo National Park. In addition, in the museum field, we were also able to make contact with autonomous initiatives such as the Rebola Museum of Material Culture—promoted by the anthropologist and National University professor José Francisco Eteo Soriso—the Leoncio Evita Cultural Centre and the OMAL literary association. Thanks to the collaboration of the Equatoguinean Cultural Centre in Malabo and the Spanish Cultural Centre in Bata (AECID), we were able to organize three Intercultural Dialogue Tables (IDTs) with the participation of people from very diverse fields: secondary school teachers and university professors, writers, anthropologists, nvet oyeng troubadours (an oral literary genre typical of the Fang people), plastic artists, lawyers, etc. The IDTs used the technique of photo-elicitation to generate discussions about the collections of Guinean objects on which we worked. All the interviews and conversations from the trip are part of the data that will assist us to better understand the collections. The contacts made will also help us find future channels of collaboration to advance the processes of colonial reparation that drive the (Tr)african(t)s project. +info: Equatoguinean Cultural Centre Spanish Cultural Centre in Bata