City tales: an art-based participatory framework for studying migration-related diversity

Introduction

This project will study imaginaries of diversity portrayed by Afro-European artists in Lisbon and Rotterdam in their films, performances, and (oral) stories. These stories are not sufficiently related to in the mainstream discourses, and the hypothesis is that the arts offer a particularly vibrant textual weft for exploring competing imaginaries of postcolonial urbanity.

Context

The two European ports are chosen since they position themselves as ‘open-to-the-world’ in light of their maritime history and ensuing migration dynamics. Yet they significantly differ in the ways that their municipalities frame their multiculturalism.

Framework

I will build the framework of ‘urban artives’ – archives of situated stories – to explore non-essentializing conceptualizations of migration-related diversity. This will involve:

1. Close reading creative forms of storytelling.
2. Interviewing and following artists in their city wanderings.
3. Digitally mapping spaces of inspiration, production, and performance.
4. Producing two creative outputs.

Objectives

The ARTIVES project aims to:

1. Trace transnational networks of belonging embodied in the local cultural scene.
2. Test the possibilities and limitations in relating to these stories in ways that break away from ‘migrantising’ (Wiest 2020) conceptions of society.

Theoretical Contribution

This research will transpose recent developments in the field of Critical Archival Studies, namely attempts to account for the transitory nature of identity formation in records’ preservation, to the fields of qualitative culture-oriented Urban Studies and Migration and Transnationalism Studies.

Significance

In this way, ARTIVES will bridge the symbolic, material, and affective aspects of how urban communities realize their sense of belonging and claim agency within highly diverse cities. Furthermore, the project will offer a best practice for working with community-driven knowledge, contributing to the ongoing debate in Cultural Anthropology and Cultural Studies on how power relations are implicated in participatory research.