Welcome to my Digital Story. In order to transport the reader of my thesis to the context of my fieldwork, and furthermore, to illustrate the types of stories that I collected on mobility, this digital story has chosen to follow the documentary Bataxaal (Letter/Message in Wolof) by Baba Diedhiou. By doing so, I hope the topic becomes more tangible, whilst also illustrating the complexity and context of the study. I have selected this documentary as the main protagonist of my digital story, as I explore the following: “What discourse is presented by Senegalese mobility-related artivism and what does this reveal about contemporary mobility dynamics?”. A reason for selecting this documentary, is that this piece of artivism incorporates the aesthetical aspect of art, visually as well as sound technically, and simultaneously showcases how art motivates reflection to consequently enable socio-political transformations. Drawing from Jacques Rancière, I am interested in these particular types of artworks, where art boundaries are blurred through the intermingling of aesthetics and politics. What inspired me to look into this topic, and from this particular perspective, i.e., what I call artivism, is that artivists not only react to social phenomena in their artistic practices but are also involved in the production of the phenomenon. At a moment where "migration" is a subject which is heavily discussed, politicised and shaped by various actors according to their interests, it is important to uncover the dynamics and see what role artists play within the shaping of this discourse. Particularly in Senegal, the involvement of artists in the public discourse on “migration” has turned out to be extensive. I think that this documentary therefore creates a perfect backdrop to discuss other Senegalese artivists’ stories and their artistic practices in my thesis, whilst also digging deeper and analyse what their stories reveal about mobility discourses.
Enjoy!