Coastal Aural Archive of Space and Time

CoaAst is a project funded by AHRC/GCRF, which involves a small community (Bamburi Beach) located in the coastal area of Kenya close to Mombasa. With the project team, children and teachers from two local schools created an archive of aural memories which is accessible to the public. CoaAST investigates the impact that changes in the environmental and economic conditions along the coastal areas of Mombasa have had upon the communities that live there, and on their cultural practices.

Children, coordinated by their teachers and equipped with audio recorders hunted for memories in the village, along the shore, and around their homes.

The interdisciplinary research method is community-based participatory research, using cooperative inquiry methods (Co-inquiry). This is defined as research with people rather than research on people. Connecting generations towards a process of self-understanding and understanding of the coastal Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) stimulated social cohesion around themes such as economic growth and conservation.

The work exhibited at the London Design Biennale within EUREKA) consisted of a video, 5 pictures printed on aluminium and a QR code which serves as a link to the audio archive of memories collected by the children during the workshops. The idea is that with the QR code, the audience could experience the story during the exhibition but they could also take it home to experience at a different time.

• https://soundcloud.com/coaast-bamburi