Masters in Fine Art by Research Wits School of Art (Division of Fine Art) January 2016 / The Ugandan diaspora to South Africa is a relatively small community with a short history of country of origin to adoptive country relation prior to its development. The cultural legacy of this community is comparatively dilute. Personal narratives from members of this community describe economic prospects and international aspirations as reasons for migration. These same reasons affect the potential for cultural manifestation. The pageant trope expresses the hyphenated relationship to national pride of Ugandans living in South Africa. The Miss Uganda SA pageant, a pageant developed by and catered to the Ugandan diaspora in South Africa, is a central case study in assessing the consequences of a hyphenated identity. Artists such as Benon Lutaaya and Lilian Nabulime give a visual illustration and develop a discussion about what cultural manifestation of Ugandans living in diaspora’s could potentially look like, and how it is affected by hyphenation

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Over the last three decades, social justice-oriented evangelical Christians of various political stripes have become increasingly concerned about the problem of human trafficking. This issue has brought together Christians concerned about pornography and sex addiction, the social effects of immigration policy, and the exploitation of the poor in a globalized world. Widespread evangelical interest in the problem of human trafficking – particularly sex trafficking – has created an entire industry of non-profit service providers, foundations, advocacy organizations, missions, and parachurch ministries devoted to “ending modern slavery.” Their advocacy has spread beyond overtly religious spaces, and the movement to end human trafficking has become one of the most significant religious and humanitarian movements of the twenty-first century. Why has “ending modern slavery” become a special calling for American evangelical Christians, and what does this tell us about evangelical humanitarianism? How do everyday Christians – from non-profit CEOs and legal advocates to lay volunteers and social workers – conceptualize human trafficking as a distinct category of human exploitation, come to feel a particular calling toward anti-trafficking work, and imagine possible solutions to this humanitarian and moral crisis? My project centers on an ethnographic study of a faith-based, anti-trafficking non-profit organization in New York City, Restore NYC, and intervenes in broader political and academic conversations about the nature of American evangelicalism; the neoliberalism of faith-based humanitarianism; and gender, affect, and genre in the “rescue industry.” I use ethnography, archival research, and popular media analysis to explicate the motivations, tactics, ideology, and theology of the contemporary anti-trafficking movement, while positioning it within the longer history of evangelical humanitarianism.

Central Americans now represent the third largest Latinx demographic in the United States and the number is growing (Noe-Bustamante, Flores & Shah, 2019). Central America and those of the Central American diaspora are frequently featured in policy discussions, the media, and even Hollywood, but Central Americans themselves are often absent from such discussions and representations. Further, little of this work highlights the history of American imperialism in the region and how such actions have contributed to the instability and corruption now experienced in many Central American countries (Chomsky, 2015; Frank, 2019). The effects of such intervention and exploitation contributes directly to the displacement and northern migration of many from the isthmus to the United States, who then are confronted with xenophobic rhetoric and policies (Garcia, 2006). Still, despite the close and often intertwined histories between the United States and Central America, as well as their position as one of the largest immigrant groups entering the United States, little social studies research has focused on the teaching of their histories and experiences (Alvarenga, 2019; Bermudez, 2020). Few have used the study of the relationship between Central America and the United States as an opportunity to reconceptualize immigration, especially those from historically exploited countries, as inherently linked to American empire and imperialism. This qualitative research project, grounded in Latina/Chicana epistemologies and LatCrit, fuses together elements of narrative inquiry, through pláticas and testimonios, with participatory 3 action research. It explores how Central American teachers engage with testimonios, both as a process as testimonistas and as listeners of testimonios by reading collectively a set of testimonios written by Central American migrant youth. Through a series of pláticas and curriculum dreaming and building encuentros, our aim was to explore how testimonio could serve a disruptive pedagogical and curricular practice for the teaching of immigration, empire and Central America. The results demonstrate that the impact of American empire and imperialism in Central America has long-lasting and far-reaching implications for Central Americans living both within and outside of the Isthmus, which manifests in silences in both our homes and in our schools and which drastically affect Central Americans’ sense of belonging in our schools. Despite these silences, the teachers in this study, all of Central American descent, reveal how they grew to claim and be proud of their Central American identity. Further, this study illuminates how these experiences with empire-induced migration and displacement then affects who they are as educators, as well as their pedagogical and curricular decision-making.

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