Papers > By author > Luijnenburg Linde

Through the voices of individuals who have migrated in and through Somalia, the Netherlands, and England, the documentary "Africa is You" highlights shared feelings of belonging but also the multiplicity of experiences which cannot be reduced to a single ‘community' story. As a multilingual community with ties and attachments which stretch across multiple sites and countries, the documentary also draws attention to the questionof whether and how the languages we speak define the communities we align with.

The poetry of Somali-Dutch artist Ahmed Magare brings us to the Somali-Dutch community in Birmingham, UK. In the shape of a short story cycle, we hear various voices sharing their stories of migrating in and through Somalia, the Netherlands, England, and possibly back to Somalia. The specific Dutch-Somali-English identity of Ayaan, Abdinasir, Abdi-Dani, and many others, tells us about transnational experiences of war, lost family members, asylum, issues of racial profiling, and trauma, as well as the binding elements of Islam, Somali food, business, and sharing the same citizenship and languages. It also shows us the vibrant community of Small Heath, Birmingham, a place and narration that connects these people of various backgrounds, genders, and ages.

The documentary is 30 minutes long, and this abstract exists of the proposal that the initiator, who is also one of the producers and makers, Dr. Linde Luijnenburg, would come to discuss during a possible panel or documentary viewing, how this documentary came into being, what its key themes implied during the production, and in what sense this is part of an ongoing project of musicians, poets, and Dutch, British, and Somali citizens (and hopefully soon, British citizens as well) who add, change, ad discuss this documentary and its key themes.

Luijnenburg holds a PhD in Postcolonial Theory and Italian Studies, is an independent filmmaker as well, and her presentation or discussion would be from a postcolonial theory perspective, told through a film studies lens.