The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice has launched ‘The Story of Your Name’ project seeking to tell the story behind names.
“What is the story of your name? What shapes your Blackness? These two questions are at the heart of a fascinating project called ‘The Story of Your Name’” a statement from the institute said.
The global non-profit organization based in Accra, Ghana said the project will offer celebration, education and healing on “global Blackness in Africa, the US, the UK, the Caribbean throughout the month of September.”
The Story of Your name is using voice notes where participants share the story of their name, who named them and why, and what shapes their Blackness.
“The stories are coming from Ghana, South Africa, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Caribbean, the UK and the USA” the institute said.
The project according to the institute will draw “an audio map using voice-notes that brings us into worlds of personal histories of family, nation, oppression, freedom, healing, love, pain, and power.”
‘These stories are funny, moving, insightful, thought-provoking. There’s beauty, love, trauma, pain, power. You get a history lesson in a story that is just 3-5 minutes long.” The AIEJ’s CEO, Esther Armah said in a statement.
“We’re drawing an audio map using voice notes to build a sonic bridge of healing with a global Black soundscape”, she explained about the project’s intention.
For the institute, ‘The Story of Your Name’ is an Emotional Justice project, “a racial healing framework that invites global Black people to heal from a legacy of untreated trauma that shapes their emotional economy of identity as African and Black people.”
‘The Story of Your Name’ is part of ‘HEALING HARM | HEEDING HISTORY’ launched in September 2023 by The AIEJ.
HEALING HARM | HEEDING HISTORY is a multi-year initiative focused on healing between Black people in Africa and in the Diaspora with in-person and online events and campaigns.
The launch last year was with sponsorship from and in partnership with the Ghana Tourism Authority, The Beyond the Return Secretariat, The African American Association of Ghana, The Ghana Caribbean Association and Ahaspora.
‘The Story of Your Name’ is Year 2 of this multi-year initiative, HEALING HARM | HEEDING HISTORY, the institute said.
The AIEJ said “a thriving fiscal economy of investment requires a healed emotional economy of identity.”
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