Reconnecting colonial sound archives with their source cultures is at the very heart of the project’s decolonizing process. Whether digital or material repatriation, artistic interventions or working with source communities in diaspora, the dissemination of DeCoSEAS’ initiatives and findings to stakeholders outside of the academia is a crucial precondition for the diversification of the dialogue about cultural heritage and existing curatorial practices. spaces and locations for the curation of sonic heritage. Working with materials that are now made largely public and freely accessible through the project, DeCoSEAS enters and employs digital environments, theatre venues, workshop rooms, and social media to disseminate and shape its research findings. It invites attendees to consider issues of ownership, privacy, and power dynamics in such collective curatorial practices, and raising ethical issues about the curation of cultural heritage.
DeCoSEAS aims to dialogue with a wide array of publics and stakeholders that encompass Southeast Asian audiences, Southeast Asian diasporic communities in Europe and elsewhere, and European journalists, educators, and artists.
Some of Our Stakeholder and Community Reconnection Initiatives
Sonic Returns --- Repatriating Sounds in Exile
Atauro's Heritage Timor-Leste
Untangling Philippine Sound, Archive, And Knowledge workshop
The Sagada Project
Working with an early 20th century piece from the Frankfurt Museum in Germany, we reconnected this instrument in storage with Ms Vicky Macay of the Ibaloi Center in Baguio, Philippines. In this video, she teaches us how the Pakkung is used to produce sound and its vital connection to Ibaloi way of life and their material culture.
Decoding sounds and remembering old friends triggers new, bittersweet memories as Benjie Manuel and Maria Todi listen to a few of Billie Riley's recordings of speeches and chants from the late 1970's. Lake Sebu, South Cotabato.
Connecting with Social Media
A Facebook Page
An Active Blog Site
Public Lectures and Talks
Kupang, Timor, Indonesia at the Taman Budaya Gerson Poyk
Prof Elizabeth Enriquez at SOAS, University of London
Yogyakarta at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, - 26 July 2022
ICTM Panel on Decolonizing the Archives