aboutus - AMAZIGH WOMEN ARCHIVE

A Confluence of Visual Ethnography and Cultural Memory

The Amazigh Women Archive was born from a four-year immersive fieldwork project in Tiflet, Morocco. It serves as a digital response to the historical “silence” of indigenous narratives in formal archives. This project seeks to move beyond traditional, often orientalist representations, providing a platform where the everyday labor and specialized knowledge of Amazigh women are treated as vital historical and scientific data.

Research Context

This archive is an extension of doctoral research conducted at Université Mohammed V, Rabat, focusing on the image and representation of Amazigh women. While traditional Moroccan Cinema often portrays these women through a fictional lens, this digital repository utilizes Visual Ethnography to document their reality. By capturing the “archived movements” of breadmaking, textile weaving, and rural agriculture, the project validates Embodied Knowledge as a legitimate form of global heritage.

Methodology: The Camera as an Analytical Tool

In this archive, photography is not merely illustrative; it is a method of inquiry. Every image is captured with a focus on:

Agency: Highlighting the subject’s direct gaze and presence.

Environment: Placing the individual within their rural landscape to show the inseparability of identity and land.

Relational Aesthetics: Reflecting the deep trust and long-term collaboration between the researcher and the community.

The Researcher

Hind Bouqartacha

PhD Candidate | Senior Photographer & Videographer

Hind Bouqartacha is a Moroccan visual researcher and the founder of GUILE STUDIO in Rabat. With a Master’s degree in Documentary Film from Tetouan, her work sits at the intersection of cinematic theory and documentary practice.

Her photography has been exhibited internationally, from London to São Paulo.

Through the Amazigh Women Archive, she combines her professional expertise in visual storytelling with her academic rigor to advocate for Epistemic Justice and the internationalization of marginalized knowledge systems.