With Hannah Pinilla
In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore the intersections of storytelling, music, and cooking through the preparation of alegría, a traditional coconut and panela sweet closely associated with Afro-Colombian palenqueras in Cartagena. Rooted in the history of San Basilio de Palenque—the first free Black town in the Americas—alegría is more than a confection; it is a symbol of resistance, memory, and cultural continuity. The workshop will unfold to the sounds of traditional cantos de venta and bullerengue rhythms, echoing the melodic street calls through which palenqueras sell their sweets in Cartagena’s plazas. Guided through the key steps of grating coconut, cooking panela to the perfect caramel point, and shaping the mixture into compact rounds, participants will explore the vital role of Palenqueras in shaping the music, culinary traditions, and cultural memory of the Colombian Caribbean.
Over alegría and limonada de coco, participants will reflect on the storytelling relationship between cooking and music—how songs, sounds, and shared rhythms shape the ways we remember and retell food traditions.
Hannah Pinilla is an oral historian and holds a MA in public history with a specialization in digital humanities at Carleton University. Her SSHRC-funded master’s research project, “El Sabor del Hogar: The Transformation of Identity and Memory Through the Food Practices of Colombian Migrants in Quebec,” engaged nine Colombian migrants, living in Montreal and Longueuil in oral history interviews facilitated through cooking sessions, to explore how the narration, preparation, and consumption of ‘home foods’ is a form of embodied and interactive diasporic memory work. Her research question were guided by her own lived experiences as the granddaughter of a first-generation Colombian-Canadian: how does the dialectical relationship between identity and memory manifest through food practice and what impact does it have on the process of home-building?
REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
As part of our exploration of Columbian foodways and oral histories, we will be preparing and eating a small meal together. Given space constraints, we need to limit the number of participants to fifteen. We will purchase food items based on the number of registered attendees. Should you be unable to attend, may we ask that you let us know at least one week in advance? We’d then be able to calibrate our food purchases accordingly and/or offer your spot to a participant on the waiting list.
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person at “The SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation,” LB-145, Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.
