Creating an Audio-Visual Archive in Cañar, Ecuador

Abstract

The creation of a community archive is a collective effort involving a variety of people and institutions, from the creators of the materials (photographers, scholars, documentarians, journalists, musicians) to the technical experts who configure the materials within the archive and create avenues for access. Photographer and author Judy Blankenship, having lived in Cañar, Ecuador since 1992, has contributed materials and created collaborations with many individuals, including ethnomusicologist Allison Adrian who worked in 2016 interviewing Cañari musicians and creating short documentary films about Cañari music and culture. In the following article, they describe their roles and working relationships with the Cañari community, discuss the purpose of archival collections, and describe elements of Cañari music and culture. Their materials can be found at archives housed at Instituto Quilloac in Cañar, Ecuador and online through AILLA, the Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin America at the University of Texas in Austin.