Zotea: performed knowledge, Afro territories, and ontological-aesthetic experiences at schools

Abstract

This article explores the reflections on and ways of appropriation of a critical intercultural process approaching the practices and knowledge of Afro-Colombian peoples through the virtual, narrative, and physical resignification of zoteas or ancestral community gardens by Afro-Pacific populations at schools in Bogotá. An emerging process was identified through ethnographic recording in an intensive diary and student audiovisual content production on Afro-diasporic and indigenous peoples; there, the articulation of ancestral practices with experimental artistic disciplines, such as performance, shed light on other ancestral knowledge. This intervention builds bridges that connect the process with contemporary expressions of the Afro worldview such as “re-existences,” “vivir sabroso” or “intimate sufficiencies” and allowed us to question and gradually transform the organization of time, space, and roles in the construction of knowledge and meaning at school.