"My Land Lives in Me" (Alan Gilsenan, 2019): on the edge of environmental displacement
"Can storytelling be a vehicle for transforming our connections and boundaries between self and other in times of climate emergence and displacement?" Open seminar with Bruna Kadlitz.
"My Land Lives in Me" (Alan Gilsenan, 2019): on the edge of environmental displacement
Can storytelling be a vehicle for transforming our connections and boundaries between self and other in times of climate emergence and displacement?
- Bruna Kadletz
Synopsis
Through the use of storytelling as vehicles for transformative dialogues, this talk/meeting aims to raise awareness among participants about the sociocultural and affective dimensions present in the relationships between forced displacement, climate crisis, and environmental degradation. To this end, we will work with an excerpt from the documentary My Land Lives in Me (Alan Gilsenan, 2019), which explores the power of storytelling to catalyze connections and transcend boundaries between "self and other." These narratives reveal not only the social and ecological impacts but, above all, the affective challenges faced by indigenous and riverside communities (from the upper Xingu River in the Altamira region, Pará) due to the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Complex. In these dark times of climate emergence, increasing armed conflicts and hostility towards forcibly displaced people, considering that such individuals are treated and re-treated as threats and social problems, this talk/meeting aims to create a space where we can reflect on the more subtle nuances of the forced displacement process and our relationship to land. This process, beyond the sociocultural issues involved, also includes, and perhaps primarily, the affective search for a home, connection to land/place and a sense of belonging.
Link to the documentary: My Land Lives in Me (Excerpt to be displayed 8’11” - 15’05”)