Memórias de uma Língua de Cão

In the organizer's words:

Performative gesture by Marilú Mapengo Námoda

Mrinalini Mukherjee Hall
Free admission

In Memórias de uma Língua de Cão, Mapengo Námoda deals with the knowledge of language and the politics of erasure with which Echuwabo, her mother tongue, as well as various traditional languages of her home country Mozambique are confronted. During the Portuguese and French conquest, assimilation techniques were an integral part of oppression, an active devaluation and erasure of the cultures that were fundamental to the communities. Mother tongues represent immaterial spaces of resistance and education, where oppressed communities can create emancipatory spaces for future generations and possible opaque futures. Memórias de uma Língua de Cão shows a mound of earth on which moving images can be seen: a group of women working the land, followed by images of Marilú performing with the skills of her tongue and mouth to swallow whatever is put in front of her; the natural act of choking becomes a political act. The materiality of earth is a reminder of rootedness and groundedness that resists the erasure of knowledge that has sustained the Echuwabo language and Bantu communities for several generations before the arrival of the oppressors. The scent of the earth, the contours of the hill, the suffocating woman, the clucking of the chickens all create a visceral experience in relation to the violent suppression of language. Marilú's work puts us in a state of discomfort. It is a trigger, reflecting the loss of cultural signifiers that are important to effective acts of rematriation and in which to invest.

A contribution by: Marilú Mapengo Námoda

Further information: Rising from the Ashes