SAMIRA IBNELKAÏD is an Amazigh woman from the Rif Mountains of Morocco —one of the homelands of the Indigenous peoples of North Africa. On paper, she is a French-Moroccan citizen residing in Finland. But above all, she is a nomad: a free mind on a journey to liberate herself from all forms of colonialism.
Samira is an engaged Researcher. Her work bridges scholarly pursuits and personal growth, as she strives to express her authentic self in all contexts and to enact intersectional epistemic justice by decolonizing her research practice and bridging science and art to reach wider audiences.
She is affiliated to the University of Oulu (Finland) and the ICAR Laboratory in Lyon (France), and a current grantee of the Kone Foundation.
Her ongoing project, Liberation: Decolonizing Mobility and Identity in the Digital Era, draws on what she terms Critical Phenomenology of Interaction—a novel framework encompassing Decolonial Multisensory Ethnography, Multimodal Interaction Analysis, and Critical Phenomenology. Her research explores the intricate relationships between mobility, identity, and power structures, focusing on how these dynamics are shaped by omnicolonialism and challenged through communal and digital practices. At the heart of Samira’s work lies a commitment to challenging dominant European narratives that frame migration as crisis and racialized individuals as threats. She advocates instead for translocal networks of multibelonging and the cultivation of collective emotional, sensory, and epistemic intelligence.
Her academic contributions include a forthcoming single-authored manuscript “Colonially Mediated Spaces and Beings: From Oppression to Liberation”, a co-authored book, numerous journal articles and book chapters, and guest-editing roles for special issues. She has secured multiple grants for both research and teaching. Samira regularly presents at international conferences, is actively involved in academic networks and associations, and contributes to reviewing and editorial work. She also has extensive teaching experience across university levels and has organized funded doctoral schools and scientific workshops for both early-career and senior researchers.
BENJAMIN FACONNIER is a French-Reunionese trumpet player, singer, and composer currently based in Finland, with strong ancestral and creative ties to Reunion Island. Born in Perpignan, France, and deeply rooted in the Afrodescendant cultures of his ancestors’ island, Benjamin weaves diverse musical traditions into a distinctive and evolving sound.
He began playing the trumpet at the age of 17 and later graduated in jazz performance from the Conservatory of Montpellier, where he honed his skills in improvisation and instrumental mastery. Throughout his career, Benjamin has contributed to sixteen albums—including his own original project—and performed extensively across Europe, Africa, and the Indian Ocean.
His musical influences range from the African-American jazz traditions of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk to the contemporary sounds of Roy Hargrove and Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, as well as the vibrant rhythms of Maloya, the traditional music of Reunion Island rooted in resistance to enslavement. Benjamin currently leads The Papillon Project, his first major composition endeavor, launched in Finland in 2020.
With this transnational initiative, he explores his own concept of Afrodescendant Interactional Music (AIM) —a genre-defying and relational practice that fosters intentional and engaged artistic dialogue across cultures, languages, and histories. As an Afropean musician, Benjamin continues to build bridges between his Reunionese heritage and his life in Finland through bold, experimental, decolonial, and improvisational soundscapes that seek to unsettle borders and amplify pluriversality.
NeoAncestral collective 