Interwoven Displacements: Transitional Imaginaries and the Diasporization of Memory in the Mampuján Quilts

Abstract

This essay studies the Mampuján Quilts as an aesthetic intervention in the transitional justice imaginary that has emerged in Colombia since the approval of the 2005 Justice and Peace Law. By examining scenes of enslavement and maroon resistance that are interwoven with images of the recent displacement of Mampuján, I introduce diasporization of memory as a framework for tracing the aesthetic links between contemporary violence and the African Diaspora. I argue that the quilts’ narrative progression through the longue durée of diasporic displacement problematizes the epistemological limitations of transitional justice.