by Taij Kumarie Moteelall and Priya Dadlani
“It’s not easy to start over in a new place,’ he said. ‘Exile is not for everyone. Someone has to stay behind, to receive the letters and greet family members when they come back.”
― Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying
As a child immigrant from Guyana (Taij), and a child of an immigrant from Guyana (Priya), we both had different experiences of exile, a concept used by Caribbean creatives who left their native lands and had to find new homes abroad. Through the Caribbean Arts Movement, creative expression became an outlet for speaking of their journeys, making meaning of their experience, and forging new possibilities to be seen, heard, and loved.
Several members of our Media Sutra team hail from the Caribbean, namely Guyana. Whether our parents chose to leave because they felt they had no options if they stayed home, or we were taken away from home at a young age or told it was not safe to return to our ancestral land, we experience some sort of exile. A remembering of what once was or longing for what could be lives in our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits in myriad ways. It has been a tender topic we often talk about in team storytelling circles and visioning sessions when we dare to dream of returning home to reconnect to our ancestral lineage and partner with artists and movement leaders “back home.”
In 2021, we began conversations with some old and new friends at the Equality Fund and Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. We planted seeds that then grew into a powerful opportunity to return home in September 2022. Media Sutra was invited to be part of the Caribbean CommsLab facilitation team in Jamaica where leaders from Guyana, Belize, Surinam, and Jamaica who are organizing for women and LGBTQ rights came together to build beloved community, develop communications skills, learn about digital security, share our stories and passions, and center wellness. There was a parallel gathering held in Barbados, and we held several joint sessions with them through virtual link-ups. We are so grateful for the connections we made (several of whom now feel like kin), an abundance of learnings and exchanges, the healing we experienced from returning home, and the joy we felt through sharing art, dancing and playing. We co-facilitated four sessions covering transformative storytelling, accessible graphic design, and creative writing.
Below are some of our initial reflections. We will continue to look back on our beautiful experiences and integrate the learnings and evolutions into our lives and leadership.
“Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.”
— Derek Walcott from his Nobel Prize Lecture, December 7, 1992
Priya’s Reflections
“Returning to the Caribbean as part of the CommsLab felt like the moment I had been waiting for to finally experience the wholeness of my identity in a place of true understanding and kinship. As an Indo-Caribbean, first-generation American, queer, radical feminist organizer who has been disconnected from my Guyanese ancestry due to ancestral trauma and colonialism, it has been difficult to find affirming ways to connect with my Caribbean roots. However, the CommsLab felt like a place I could safely explore myself and learn from folks I have such shared common ground with.
A group of about 45 gender justice organizers from all across the Caribbean came together to share, learn from one another, and build towards a world where all women, queer, and trans people of the Global South feel empowered and safe to live their full lives. As someone who is Indo-Guyanese returning to the Caribbean from Diaspora, it was a bit daunting to figure out my place in this space given my fractured connection to my homeland due to ancestral trauma, colonialism, and political turmoil. However, it became quickly clear to me that there is an urgent need for greater solidarity, understanding, checking of privileges, and direct action to take place between those of us in the Diaspora and our siblings still living in our home countries.
I learned so much about the history of Global South feminism, the need for us to build our own systems to protect our communities outside of government and oppressive institutions, and was creatively inspired by the many amazing organizers and artists who shared their wildest dreams for the world. We had deep discussions centered on a healing justice ethic, played drums together, made art together, and built action plans for our organizations to more creatively and effectively dismantle white supremacy and patriarchy in the spaces we soon returned to. I left the CommsLab not only feeling politically charged up to organize new spaces and actions to end gender-based violence in my community, but I also left with new friendships, connections, and a deepened sense of love and appreciation for my people, country, and ancestors who have paved the way for our defiant resilience. I look forward to returning to the Caribbean to continue building with, and following the lead of our gender justice comrades in the region.”
Taij’s Reflections
“As a child immigrant to this country, there was a deep rupture for me in my formative years that shifted me forever and I have since been on a journey to find wholeness and make meaning of my life ever since. At the tender age of seven, I lost almost everything that was foundational to me after one American Airlines flight from Guyana to New York City. I feel as if I have been searching for some semblance of that foundation and sense of wholeness ever since. Each time I returned home to Guyana, or somewhere in the Caribbean where there is proximity to the culture and ways of being that were the norm in my birth land, a feeling of wholeness washes over and through me. This was the feeling I experienced as soon as I took my first deep breath in Jamaica in September. From the dialect and warmth of the people, the freshness of the food, and the rhythm of the drums, I felt connected and wholeness felt possible.
To make this trip back to the Caribbean even more magical, I was able to return with my Media Sutra team member and fellow Jahajee, Priya Dadlani. Together we held healing and creative spaces to support women’s rights and LGBTQ activists across the Caribbean to tell their stories, amplify their messages, share art, mobilize resources, and center healing justice practices. In doing so, I felt the pulse of my purpose reverberating throughout my being. It was especially amazing to feel a sense of kinship with fellow gender justice warriors and to begin weaving webs of relationships that will support increased solidarity across our respective movements here in the US and “back home” in the Caribbean. Now more than ever, it feels possible and like a vital priority to create art and build a solidarity economy across the Caribbean Diaspora.”
Closing Invitation
Please share any inquiries or reflections that come up for you, and let’s be in dialogue. Holla at us if you would like to join in a circle where we can share more intimately and also explore possibilities for additional trips “back home” to connect to our lineages and conspire with Caribbean creatives and gender justice movement leaders. This is just the beginning of many more adventures in the Caribbean. Big things are on the horizon, for sure!