The fish returns: border crossing, identity, and community building

Cid Moragas, Daniel and Gueye, Marame (2026) The fish returns: border crossing, identity, and community building. Across Borders Conference: A Sea of Words, Cadiz University, Cadiz, Spain. 14 - 16 Sep 2026. (In Press)

Abstract

This project proposes a symbolic and political reversal of the dominant flows of knowledge between the Global North and South through a collaborative artistic practice rooted in the territories of origin of African diaspora communities in Europe. Rather than treating cultural production as an object that travels to be exhibited, the initiative approaches the process as a living conversation that returns experiences, knowledge, and memories to communities historically dispossessed of these narratives. Through collective narrative devices—such as mantas that tell the journey of the “fish” as a metaphor for migration, knowledge, and resistance—the project activates spaces of encounter where the diaspora shares lived experiences, wounds, and survival strategies with local communities. This exchange does not seek to transfer Eurocentric models but rather to recognize and make visible forms of community governance, resilient urban practices, and care economies already present in these territories. The proposal is grounded in an ethics of return: returning knowledge, historical responsibility, listening, and the capacity for mutual learning.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics