Series | Studi e ricerche
Edited book | Postcolonial Publics: Art and Citizen Media in Europe
Chapter | Epistemic Decolonization of Migration: Digital Witnessing of Crisis and Borders in For Sama

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

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’.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 13, 2022 | Accepted: Oct. 21, 2022 | Published Jan. 26, 2023 | Language: en

Keywords Migrant VoicesDecoloniality of knowledgeDocumentary auto-ethnographyCrisis ordinarinessBorderscape


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