Introduction

*This article went through a peer review process with all identities visible to editors, reviewers and authors.

I first learned about Contours, and its Black Dolls edition, from my dear friend Dr. Margit Edwards, who knew of my interest and research in Black dolls.  I was excited to see an entire publication dedicated to exploring and investigating the topic. Recently, there has been growing interest in the subject. Internationally, numerous news articles have been published in countries such as Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Nigeria, etc. There have been notable events such as the Black doll exhibition that traveled internationally, the first Black doll store opening in Brazil, Black doll exhibitions at the New York Historical Society and the Strong Museum, and the release of  “The Black Barbie Documentary on Netflix. And there has been academic interest too, primarily in the US, with revisits of the Doll tests, new publications such as Radical Play, Revolutionizing Children’s Toys in 1960s and 1970s America by Rob Goldberg, and even a symposium, The Black Doll Symposium, committed to the subject at Duke University. All of these exciting and significant projects highlight the enormous social, political, and cultural impact of Black dolls globally, emphasizing that they are much more than mere playthings for children. This edition expands on those conversations, bringing together doll makers, activists, collectors, community organizers, scholars, performers, and artists to discuss their techniques and use of Black doll-making to forge community and enact social change.

There is evidence of dolls from the earliest humans, scattered across the globe, who fashioned found materials in their image to produce powerful emblems for ritual, social education, and spiritual healing. “Black” dolls materialized in the context of the Transatlantic Slave Trade with emergent racialization. In the Americas, Afro-descendant people would find new meanings and new purposes for these personal objects, imbuing them with their hopes for freedom.  Black dolls have long been charged with liberatory work. The fight for freedom and equality has always required “all hands on deck,” and so too, Black dolls play their role. Early Black dolls, made from everyday materials like cloth and corn husks, provided comfort and consolation to children denied a childhood in the slave system. Koto dolls in Suriname and topsy-turvy dolls in the Caribbean were put to use in subverting the horrors of colonial brutality, and Mamie and Kenneth Clarks’ Doll Tests would be deployed in the legislative fight for equality in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in the US in the 40s. Time and time again these powerful symbols of self have been put to work to forward healing, equality, and civil rights. This edition follows in that continuum, featuring contributors who utilize Black dolls and Black doll-making in their efforts to address domestic violence, anti-racism, healthy equity, freedom of expression, and social change.

When I met Cindy García, the founder of Contours, I learned that the publication was more than just a periodical where discussions are mostly happening on the page, but rather encompasses a parallel dynamism of the written word and an experiential expression of each edition in forwarding its vision of anti-racist, decolonial, and feminist practices. Contributors to this edition would not only engage in critical written discourse on the topic but would also partake in an extensive community-engaged process.  They would meet others doing similar work, partake in vibrant discussions, share practices, and performances, create collectively, and reflect together. I would learn that this experiential approach is key to the process and framework of making each edition. It allows contributors to “collectively write-with in an attempt to undo extractive, objectifying methods of writing-about.” This approach encourages community building and cultivates kinship which is at the centerpiece of the Contours praxis. Contours’ approach is transnational and diasporic and this edition invites a global conversation on Black dolls.  Contributors would discuss diverse historical perspectives, understandings of shared trauma, concepts of race and racial difference, and the envisioning of new/shared futures.  In the end, this edition brought together 18 contributors discussing Black dolls in the context of 5 countries, Cuba, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, and the US.

With community-building as our guide, over the course of making this edition, contributors and the editorial team would find many ways to connect. Initially, we met virtually, via numerous Zooms, WhatsApps, emails, and phone calls, with formats dictated to us based on availability and accessibility. For example, our Cuban collaborators could not meet on Zoom because it did not operate in Cuba due to US sanctions but found WhatsApp accessible. As we progressed through the editorial process and drafts were submitted, contributors engaged in a community review process where they would critique each other’s pieces. The openness and transparency of that process, —where reviewers were not anonymous—helped build trust and support amongst the group. All of the contributors would eventually meet in person at the Contours ArteCalle Residency in Cuba alongside 30 collaborators on the ground, who helped facilitate and coordinate the event. All participated in vibrant discussions, presentations, and doll-making workshops. For 8 days we would embody the spirit of ArteCalle which would culminate in an exhibition and gathering at Casa Tomada mirArte where celebration and the art of everyday life would pour out into the streets and the community.

In Nov 2024, a smaller Contours group traveled to Mexico City and Tepoztlán, led by contributor and Afro-Mexican Activist, Tanya Duarte, who was recently honored by the US State Department’s Global Anti-Racism Champions Award. The group met with local scholars, presented on Contours, and engaged in doll workshops led by Dr. Cynthia Davis.

This edition of Contours ArteCalle is titled Traveling in Diasporas reflecting both on our growing transnational community of collaborators and the Black dolls we make and share along the way. It is presented in both English and Spanish and is divided into 5 sections:  Aterrizajes, which introduces the terrain covered in the issue including editors’ introductions. In Contextos, an oral history of Cuban artists Margarita Montalvo and Maritza Arango Montalvo provides historical context in the shaping of their project La Muñeca Negra.  Activaciones introduces us to practitioners such as Dr. Cynthia Davis and her Dolls of Hope project, which has advocated for health equity and awareness of AIDS/HIV globally for over two decades. Both Myrna Rosa Padron Dickson highlights her Casa Tomada mirArte project and Dale Guy Madison shares his award-winning film The Boy Who Played with Dolls in support of LGBTQ+ communities. Scholar, Ángela Castro illuminates the work of Colombian poet Mary Grueso, who advocates for Afro-Columbian education through her doll-making and literary work. Maritza Arango Montalvo and Cindy García discuss the benefits and challenges of transnational collaboration. And this section ends with a tribute to Catriona Rueda Esquibel, scholar, doll maker, and activist from Oakland, California. Reflexiones encourages us to consider the Black doll across a spectrum of relationships and geographies, ie., Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Los Angeles with pieces from collectors of Candomble dolls, Dr. Margit Edwards and Linda Yudin, Cuban doll maker Esperanza Guillot Ramos, Los Angeles-based artist Rosalyn Myles, and Mexican scholar, Laura Barraza. The section ends with reflections on Contours’ travels to Cuba and Mexico by Arianna Diaz-Celon and Liliane Sojos-Ortiz.  In Refracciones, we consider the Black doll in the context of decolonial praxis through Tanya Duarte and Sherri Roberts-Lumpkin’s commitment to anti-racism, Natalia Pereira’s commitment to freedom of expression, and the poetry of scholars Sabrina Thomas and Julio Mitjans.

Collectively, we have listened for understanding, shared generously, and gained valuable insight, and together we grow, we heal and we put into action ArteCalle, a liberatory praxis.

We are thrilled to present to you the second edition: 

Contours ArteCalle: Traveling in Diasporas.

---

---