The home that dwells in me
From a fictional narrative about the first African astronaut to inhabit a space station and stay weight in Europe for 40 years (starting from the adaptation of a viral email), the director Kantarama Gahigiri addresses the very current theme about migration and the feeling of belonging. In “Ethereality“, a short film that is part of the Festival Rastro program, we soon realized that the space is not so distant.
When interviewing and monitoring the lives of African migrants in Switzerland, Gahigiri notes the feeling of discomfort not only because of xenophobia, but also because of cultural differences. Even those who say they are comfortable show in their eyes the lack of a bond that cannot be easily re-established.
Home is a word full of memories, smells, colors and spaces that can be revived anywhere. However, there is a dichotomy in the migrant living in another country. He no longer feels at home in his country of origin, nor in the one chosen to live. The reasons are many, ranging from security and physical integrity, to the hope of achieving a more dignified life in another territory.
The clothes, the language, the way of walking, the food, the music. Everything is different. It really looks like we’re trying to run around in an astronaut outfit that no longer serves us, but we can’t get rid of.
Anthropologist Nestor Canclini, an Argentine living in Mexico, works with the idea of cultural hybridization. The hybrid is exactly what brings together two origins, in the specific case of migration, two cultures. There is no way to return to what is already gone. That is why Canclini argues that, in the globalized world, we are all a little foreign. It is a fact that the last years of repression and a conservative turn have come to suppress migration and to defend an idea of “Nation-State” that is sometimes problematic.
It is clear that the anthropologist does not place migrants and people who continue to inhabit the country of origin in the same dimension, however, he draws attention to the cultural mix.
The problem, in general, of this mix for a migrant is, that the feeling of belonging disappears. Perhaps as an African astronaut who has been lost for years and on returning to Earth, he is unable to remove his space uniform or leave Europe.
Not feeling the sensation of home anymore is losing the certainties we have – because home means much more than a house. As Gahigiri herself says, it feels like hot soup on a cold day.
Can we keep this home alive and, if so, for how long?
Watch a special video by Kantarama Gahigiri:
