Identity, Migration, and the Arts: Three Case Studies of Translocal Communities

Abstract

For marginalized populations separated from their homelands, the arts are one of the most effective ways by which groups negotiate their identities at the crossroads of various cultures and influences. Through both hybridized and traditional artistic presentations, translocal and transnational communities engage the issues of identity in ways that renegotiate, challenge, and define the unique characteristics that make them who they are. This article examines three distinct cases of translocal populations as well as the ways by which the groups’ artistic activities help to inform a larger reconstruction of community presence and solidarity. Specifically, these three models focus on theater performances by Sudanese “Lost Boys” living in Syracuse, New York; visual art representations by Cuban exiles in Miami; and flamenco musical initiatives by Gitanos in southern Spain. While such examples are not meant to provide a formula by which translocal populations adapt and engage artistic representations, they nonetheless serve to inform a critical discussion on the ways in which the arts—music, dance, theater, and visual arts—are inherently linked to conceptualizations and representations of ourselves and of others.

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