Choibá dolls: Material meanings that grow as they touch other bodies

• In Event: Un/Making a Difference 1: materialities, textiles, making, mending & inventing

Abstract

Matholo, a UK based Afro-Southafrican weaver, takes the doll and looks at her for a while, a silent long while. She is visibly moved, not only by the quality of the stitches but by the doll itself. Doll in hand, she says: —This is the first time I've ever had a doll that looks like me—, as she combs her fingers through the braided hair of the small afro doll.
Afro-Colombian women from the Artesanías Choibá collective make these dolls. These women's lives have been entangled with the Colombian armed conflict. Two decades ago, they had to leave their houses behind due to the forced displacement caused by the war. They now live in Quibdó (Chocó - Colombia). It was at this time that they started sewing these dolls as Christmas presents for their children because of the lack of other possible gifts. In our presentation, a conversation with members of the Choiba collective we will talk about the material meanings and the intangible bodies fabricated when making these dolls. We will talk about how these material cultural experiences —these bodies, these corporealities (Foster, 1996)—, tell stories rarely told; how they produce a body —singular— that is multiple —plural— (Mol, 2002); how they have become both the/a voice and the/a livelihood that can respond to their everyday troubles.

Author

• Eliana Sanchez-Aldana, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia