Epistemic Decolonization of Migration: Digital Witnessing of Crisis and Borders in For Sama

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 01-2023
Host editors
  • B.B. Blaagaard
  • S. Marchetti
  • S. Ponzanesi
  • S. Bassi
Book title Postcolonial Publics
Book subtitle Art and Citizen Media in Europe
ISBN (electronic)
  • 9788869696770
Series Studi e ricerche
Pages (from-to) 95-112
Number of pages 18
Publisher Venezia: Edizioni Ca' Foscari
Organisations
  • Faculty of Humanities (FGw) - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
Abstract
This chapter analyses how digital witnessing of migration in documentary auto-ethnography contributes towards epistemic decolonization. I focus on For Sama (Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, 2019) as a case study, a letter-film that memorializes key events in al-Kateab’s everyday life during the Syrian Civil War that shaped her decision to migrate to Europe. By considering the relation between documentary, citizen media, and decoloniality, I argue that digital witnessing in For Sama provides affective access to migration motivations that challenges their reductionist categorization and pluralizes audience understanding of ‘crisis’ and ‘borders’.
Document type Chapter
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-677-0/006
Downloads
978-88-6969-678-7-ch-06 (Final published version)
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