Week 12: The Water Will Carry Us Home

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In Gabrielle Tesfaye’s stop motion animation, “The Water Will Carry Us Home,” the scene depicting the throwing of stolen Africans off a slave ship during the Middle Passage followed by their transformation into mermaids serves as a poignant exploration of sacrifice, transformation, and spiritual liberation.

The act of casting the stolen Africans off the ship carries profound symbolism, reflecting the brutality of the transatlantic slave trade and the disregard for human life and dignity. The description reveals that this act is a ritualized sacrifice, echoing the harrowing experiences endured by countless individuals forced into the horrors of slavery. It signifies a loss of hope and humanity, as the enslaved are cruelly discarded into the depths of the ocean.

However, amidst this tragedy emerges a moment of divine intervention and transformation. The presence of Yoruba Orishas dwelling in the water saves the spirits of the enslaved Africans, preventing their demise and offering them a chance at redemption. This supernatural occurrence signifies a spiritual awakening and liberation from the chains of bondage and suffering. The transformation into mermaids symbolizes a return to ancestral roots and a reclaiming of identity and power.

The scene’s visual imagery, coupled with its emotional weight, leaves a profound impact on the viewer. The juxtaposition of violence and spiritual redemption creates a powerful narrative that resonates deeply with the audience. It invites reflection on the enduring legacy of slavery and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.

The Sea is History

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This week, I wanted to focus more on the poem, “The Sea is History”, by Dereck Walcott. This is by far one of the most interesting poems I have ever read. It focused mostly on the transportation of the slaves during the slave trade. This poem made me realize how heavy words can be when used properly. This poem almost seems like an act of rebellion to the way history is normally told. History is generally taught through the perspective of Christianity, more specifically in Europe. This poem constantly references the Bible. Stories like Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant, and Genesis are talked about, which are stories about great migrations. I think that talking about these stories with the slave trade amplifies the importance of the already heavy topic in a tasteful way.

The brutality of the wording is absolutely necessary in order to induce empathy in the reader. One of the lines that I found to be extremely interesting was when the narrator comments on the “men with eyes heavy as anchors, who sank without tombs” (Walcott 8). This line implies that suicide is much more preferable than living as a slave, and comparing eyes to anchors is a beautiful yet heartbreaking use of a simile. The idea that there is no tomb, just the ocean, implies that life is not the only thing being taken, but culture is being taken as well. Almost every culture has some type of ritual for death. The slave trade took that away for Africans, just as they stripped them of their entire culture. I thought this was a heavy line but it was extremely interesting to think about.

I also wanted to comment on how interesting it was to consider the ocean the “grey vault” that holds African history. The ocean is almost like an omnipotent being in this poem, the way it has so much power and history. I believe that this is a prime example of why history should be taught more through world literature. The way history is taught is extremely biased, but through world literature we can learn to gather information and truly learn from the past.

Week 12: The Sea is History

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After looking at this weeks readings, I found the poem, “The Sea is History,” to be quite interesting. Even the name of the poem itself proves its importance as it suggests that the sea serves as an archive of history, that contains the memories, struggles, and experiences of the people who have traveled it. Rather than focusing solely on written records or official accounts, Walcott suggests that the sea itself holds valuable insights into the past, offering alternative perspectives and voices that may have been marginalized or silenced. Derek Walcott uses biblical allusions and imagery throughout the poem, drawing parallels between the experiences of the Caribbean people and stories from the Bible. The sea can represent both a source of liberation (in the Exodus) and a site of suffering and oppression (in the Middle Passage). This shows the sea as a symbol of both hope and tragedy within the Caribbean imagination.

The line, “and then each rock broke into its own nation;” really stuck out to me and I think it is because it is bringing up the significance of boundaries once again. In a response to the European colonization of the Caribbean communities, separate nations were formed on each island. The metaphor of rocks breaking into nations creates an image of upheaval and division, reflecting the violent and disruptive impact of colonialism on the region. As Europeans colonized the Caribbean islands, they enforced their own political, social, and economic structures, which led to the displacement and oppression of indigenous peoples and the forced migration of enslaved Africans. But, this line cannot be interpreted as solely negative, as it also appreciates the resilience of these communities and the formation of new ones under the destructive forces of colonization. Also, the two lines toward the end that read, “there was the sound/like a rumour without any echo,” are thought provoking, as the stories of history go deeper than the surface. By Walcott comparing history to a “rumour,” he is implying how history can be manipulated, just as a rumour can. And as the absence of an “echo,” he is suggesting that these stories have not been fully acknowledged or even heard. This reminds me of history being called “his story” because it is just so prevalent and true. There is such power dynamics inherent in historical narratives, as many primary authors and interpretators of history have been people in positions of power, who are often men. This has obviously shaped our understanding of the past and perceiving different groups of people. It makes me question the things I have learned in school and to take in to consideration who is writing these historical narratives.

Week 12: The Water Will Carry Us Home

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One thing that really stood out to me in the short video “The Water Will Carry Us Home” is the portrayal of the drawing of the slave ship, in which millions of African people were brought to Western countries such as the United States, what in my opinion demonstrates the exploitation of water and the clash between slave trade and cultural heritage. In the first segment of the video, cultural rituals as well as drawings, instruments or sculptures (possibly gods) were presented (cf. 0:00 -1:17 min). The water spirit thus inherits knowledge and is of big significance for African cultures. By showing those cultures, the viewers are confronted with a feeling of safeness and possibly even liberation. When in the next segment the slave ship first got presented to the viewer, the perspectives kind of shifted (cf. 2:17 min). Water, through which millions of people got displaced from what they call home, now poses a threat to that culture who sacred water before. It is, as if that change shows the endured trauma of the slaves. I found it particularly interesting that the background music changed, too (it sounded melancolic or even menacing? cf. 1-17 to 3:55 min). What we can conclude from that video is, that the exploitation of water as a means of transportation during the time of slavery must be seen as a brutal act of Eurocentric selfishness. Slave owners not only kidnapped millions of people from their homeland, but they ultimately also disrespected and erased the ancestral roots of the African peoples. The juxtaposition in the use of water portrayed in the video really made me angry and I felt so bad for the sorrow and trauma people from African cultures have endured once again. With that being said, thank you for choosing that video for us, Professor!

Week 12: The Water Will Carry Us Home

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This week’s stop motion animation left me curious but also fascinated with the art that was used. There were a couple of details that stood out to me but watching the short video I couldn’t help but focus on the key that was used. When the key is first showed it is to unlock the story of slaves were being moved through the ocean on ship and those who had fallen into the water eventually came to be mermaids, and the key is later then showed again as it is locking up the story again. The key shows a way in which there are beings that are able to hide or make visible stories about the ocean but it’s a “pick and choose” which they believe should be told, this going back to the story that was showed about African American merpeople first coming to be which is unusual in history as it has been portrayed to be only white merpeople. The key is also showing the way in which stories are told from different cultural backgrounds, in this short animation we are viewing the origin of merpeople through Yoruba Orishas who helped cause this phenomenon to happen. Stories like these are ones that aren’t heavily present in any sort of history, so I think it’s interesting that there are even stop motion animation to tell these stories as they are important not only to the history of mermaids but to the history of Ocean. The Ocean is a fluid place with so much history and with that history holds so many different stories for so many cultures that it’s not easy to think one version of a story exist, to think that multiple variations of a story exist as it translated differently throughout cultures.

Week 12: The Sea is History

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After doing this week’s readings, I found the poem to be super interesting. The way that the author uses the first half of the poem to describe biblical events as seen through the perspective of the ocean is fascinating. Going through those events and describing them using the ocean, shows just how long the ocean has been around and how constant the ocean is. The poem states, “but the ocean kept turning blank pages / looking for History” (lines 24-25). These two lines explain that while the sands in the ocean move and the structure of the ocean floor changes, the ocean itself remains a stable entity. The capitalization of History is also interesting because it makes the subject appear to be much more important and is almost used as a name. In a way, history is personified and the ocean becomes a more dynamic living organism that is searching for history. 

I also found the constant reference to history really interesting. Multiple times throughout the poem the author states that an event or something he just described was not history, but who decides what is history? The poem says, “but that was not History, / that was only faith / and then each rock broke into its own nation;” (lines ). This stanza disregards the events explained at the beginning of the poem because it states that history cannot be faith and faith cannot be history. This hints that history starts when the continents separate and nations start to form. I think that’s an interesting idea because faith to me is something that people believe in that helps them to explain their existence while the formation of the continents is a more scientific event. Is the author referencing history as seeing human impact on the ocean or is it something else entirely?

Week 12: The Water Will Carry Us Home

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The film “The Water Will Carry Us Home”, starts off with Gabrielle Tesfaye in her element– writing, burning incense, embracing her cultural attributes etc. The first minute and a half of the film evokes feelings of healing and harmony through depicting Tesfaye’s performance of what seems to be her natural routine. Her cultural preservation offers a sense of comfort to immigrants/refugees who have endured historical or present traumas as a result of Colonialism, Imperialism, war, and/or slavery. Her performance offers hope that indigenous cultural practices are not extinct in the face of colonialism and/or immigration from one continent/country to another. 

In the next segment of the film (after the first 1.30s), Tesfaye exhibits a paper-made short film illustrating the shipment process of captured individuals being shipped off to another country as slaves. In the beginning, the water is presented with fish swimming in the ocean and very calming music is playing in the background. A ship emerges and the music becomes slightly more abrupt. Once the individuals are captured, some have fallen into the sea– including pregnant women. This part of the film shows how destructive humans are not only to the environment but to each other. We have a lifelong history of not only disrupting the environment but also of distructing each other by territorial, cultural, and religious invasion.  Further into the film, we see the women that fell into the ocean become mermaids and birth sea-children. This part was powerful because it illustrates the courage that transcended from a devastating event in time. This part of the film also demonstrates how beyond devastation and attempts of destroying nature, life transcends and continues to flourish. Nature cannot be destroyed because it adapts and evolves. Tesfaye is an embodiment of this lesson. The film ends the same way it started– with Tesfaye interacting with nature, her natural routine, as she listens to the ocean’s sands and the music it plays. 

The Water Will Carry us Home

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In her short film “The Water Will Carry Us Home” Tesfaye has the audience consider the ocean as an archive and a place that holds history for descendants of the African Diaspora. Furthermore she also emphasizes the need to reach back to old rituals and traditions to find connection back to ancestors. The film opens with a couple of depictions of African deities. Amongst these is the Egyptian goddess Isis and there are all sorts of offerings being shown to us. The song seems to be a chant she is using to connect to old gods. The visual medium then moves from being live action to stop motion animation. This signals the moving into a spiritual domain where resides a god, whom i believe to be Papa Legba. This is a god known by different names across different African religions. This god is often considered to be a god that stands at crossroads and holds the keys to the past and the future. One historical fact that we ought to consider is that in these passages people from the same groups were often separated and placed amongst other people that did not have the same common language. This was done out of a need to cut communication amongst these stolen people to limit the possibility of an uprising against the ships crew. That many displaced people were still able to form connections with each other through gods that they all believed in is an act of resistance against the attempt of erasure. Through this god we are shown this origin myth. I consider it to be an origin myth because the nature of the trans-atlantic slave trade made it so that descendants of this diaspora have no exact knowledge of where they come from, from what tribes or culture and so it creates this disconnect with the past. This story then serves to memorialize those who lost their lives in this middle passage. To imagine their spirits as being saved through transformation so that they could find their way home. The narrative does compel one to examine the history that the ocean carries for so many people today. in this narrative it is particularly for descendants of enslaved peoples but let us not forget that the history of is thought to originate in the ocean as well. The shot of Tesfaye holding conch shell headset to her ears and the cable on the sand imply that the way to learn and go back to one’s roots is by listening to the stories the ocean holds. Perhaps in listening to the past we can come to know our future.

Week 12: The Water Will Carry Us

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For this week blog, I found it really interesting to the idea that through mermaids cultures are able to tell stories and as well how different cultures have different perceptions of mermaids. The stop motion film, “The Water Will Carry Us Home,” unveils the ocean’s diverse cultural perceptions and uncovers the idea of the legacy of black mermaids in contemporary society. The narrative is rooted in the harrowing tale of Africans abducted and cast overboard during the Middle Passage during a period of slavery, only to be rescued by the aquatic deities of Yoruba mythology, suggesting the sea’s duality as both a menacing unknown and a source of salvation across different cultures. This depiction challenges the idea of fear associated with the ocean, instead presenting it as a realm of protection and reverence, particularly for those cultures directly touched by its saving grace. As we have often seen that many different cultures have different meanings and ideas towards the ocean and mermaids. This representation invites viewers to contemplate the personal bonds each individual can forge with the sea, this film can aid in changing the ideals of individuals and seeing the ocean as not something to be scared of but something we should be curious about; and as a source of healing that has recently been seen in society as the ocean being a place that can provide peace and tranquillity. So in the sense of the class, this film aids in having a different point of view in the face of the ongoing environmental crisis, the film provides a new idea, suggesting that a personal and communal appreciation for the ocean could bridge the gap we’ve placed between ourselves and the aquatic world, encouraging a more harmonious interaction with water and all it has to offer, and how it can be used to better our everyday life and our planet.

Week 12

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After reading the poem and watching the video for this weeks work, I found the poem to be quite interesting. Walcotts poem about “The Sea is History” have very intriguing language and imagery. I am currently taking a creative writing class, and we have just moved into our poetry unit to this sparked my interest. Not only is Walcotts poem hinting to the history of the oceans and its cultures, it seems to be discussing the changing the ocean has undergone. From natural changes and human caused changes, and how its affected the oceans history. There is a section that I believe it referring to Oil wells and men in the ocean. The poem is reflecting on the damage and harm humans have inflicted on the ocean, referring to the oil wells as well as the digging and exploration humans have done in the sea. The interactions humans have had with the oceans, are not depicted as harmless ones, but as harmful one. The poem says “Then came the men with eyes heavy as anchors, who sank without tombs,brigands who barbecued cattle, leaving their charred ribs like palm leaves on the shore,then the foaming, rabid maw..” This seems to be referring to not only the harm humans have done to the ocean but what has been dumped into it. This whole poem is about different interactions with the Ocean. Hurricanes and natural changes, oil digging, debris form humans being dumped and leaving thins behind. I believe this poem is not only describes the damage the ocean has undergone but how these changes has affected its history. The religious aspects and vocabulary mentioned gave this poem more of an ominous meaning towards the end. “that was only faith,
and then each rock broke into its own nation..” Is Walcott saying faith guided this history? Or why did faith not stop these things form happening? God? I am not religious myself, but the religious vocabulary in this poem seems as though Walcott believes that religion is important to the history of the ocean. I found this aspect interesting and also confusing, because is he saying the ocean has its own religious value or is human influence why?