INTERVIEW_CHERYL FINLEY

A lecturer in History of Art and Visual Culture at the Africana Studies and Research Center of Cornell University in the United States, the curator and art critic Cheryl Finley is one of the guests at the Pan-African Contemporary Art Exhibition, an Associação Cultural Videobrasil production. In her meeting with the public she will discuss how Afro-descendents relate with memory and history through such practices as “roots tourism”. This practice basically involves visiting sites at which material elements of the past still abide – for example, pillories and castles used for slave trading – in order to reflect upon history in an attempt to understand it better. Cities in Ghana, and the city of Salvador itself, are among the destinations for such experiences. In this exclusive interview, Finley, who has been in Brazil before, speaks about her participation at the event.

By Helio Hara

What are the issues you will be addressing in your talk in Salvador?
Broadly speaking, I will be discussing the contemporary politics of “memorialization” — how individuals, communities, artists and nations perform and perpetuate narratives of personal and public memory. Focusing on cultural heritage, or "roots tourism,” and visual art, I will draw out examples of some of the common themes and challenges facing contemporary projects of “memorialization” and their consequences for the African Diaspora.

Your studies on "roots tourism" do contribute to the reflection on the implications of this practice. How do you assess the importance of "roots tourism" to Afro-descendents?
In one of my earlier works on ”roots tourism,” I identified this practice as an essential part of what I call “symbolic possession of the past”. “Roots tourism” is an important initiative that allows individuals to connect with the past, to identify with cultural and historic sites and rituals, in meaningful and tangible ways that are situated in the present. This contact can be also with people from whom they are descended.

Due to economic restraints, Afro-descendents from countries and regions such as Brazil and the Caribbean seldom have the chance to visit Africa. "Roots tourism" is therefore mostly a North-American experience. How relevant would "roots tourism" be for Afro-descendents from other regions of the world?
“Roots tourism” is extremely relevant for Afro-descendants/diasporic Africans from around the globe, and especially in the Americas, where cultural practices, architectural styles and historic elements emanating from Africa still exist. If "roots tourism," taken quite literally, implies a connection to Africa, either symbolic or real, it doesn't mean one has to travel there to engage in “roots tourism” or to be a “roots tourist”. ”Roots tourism” can have implications for Afro-descendants who seek out connections to their roots in local (nearby) places and cultural practices. For instance, in Brazil, Afro-descendants of São Paulo or Rio can visit in Salvador, or they may seek out in their own cities, important cultural landmarks that have meaning for their understanding of themselves as being descended from Africa. In other words, “roots tourism” does not always entail a great expense in a travel to Africa. In the Americas, one often can find a bit of Africa in one's own backyard.

To what extent has this "return to an ancestral homeland" helped Afro-descendents come to terms with the past? Does it have a broader impact, for example, making people feel stronger to face concrete challenges in the present?
Yes, it is part of the process of relating the past to the present that brings about greater understanding. Many people see “roots tourism” as a healing process, of a way to come to terms with the past, with the history of transatlantic slavery and the (very real) fact of contemporary racism. Many “roots tourists,” whether traveling nationally within ones own country or abroad to Africa, treat their trips as a pilgrimage. It is part of this healing process that brings about greater understanding.

I understand you learned Portuguese. Will you be practicing
it in Salvador?
Sim! Vou praticar, espero que sim!