This digital humanities project attempts to create a a spatial history archive to map events and places linked 
with histories of the Afro-Indian communities. Currently in the first phase of research and development, the project also documents African cultural contributions and expressions in the Indian subcontinent. While the project considers older histories of exchanges between between Africa and India, it primarily focuses on how connections with Africa are remembered, reimagined and reconstituted through the lived experiences of Afro-Indians and other communities. In the Indian subcontinent, while the history of Eurasian exchanges are narrated to the public using institutionalized media of knowledge dissemination such as heritage sites and museums, histories of Afro-Asia connections remains an obfuscated narrative. Unlike other histories of exchanges, the retention of African cultural elements through performances, spirit possession rituals, and healing practices amongst Africans in the past and Afro-Indians in the present, and also the rich material cultures of these communities and the architectural legacies have been an under-researched area. The central objective of this digital archive is to showcase how African presence in India are remembered, updated, and reinvented through scared landscapes, material cultures, and repertoires of ritual performances of Afro-Indian communities and other marginalized groups in the India.
Neelima Jeychandran 