Land, diaspora, and memory: Critical approaches based on the thought of Francesca Gargallo

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the Earth –understood as an ontological, political, and affective category–, memory, and diaspora through the thought of Francesca Gargallo, my memories of her, and the profound intellectual legacy she left through her work, as well as through its dialogue with diverse Latin American, and decolonial critical traditions. Drawing on her work Garífuna, Garínagu, Caribe. Historia de una nación libertaria, the article explores how diasporic identities preserve territorial and cultural ties through practices of memory that resist colonial erasure. In dialogue with the contributions of Gloria Anzaldúa, Avtar Brah, Aníbal Quijano, Frantz Fanon, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, it argues that contemporary migration must be understood in relation to the coloniality of power, border violence, neoliberalism, and the global ecological crisis. The article further argues that the Earth constitutes a fundamental axis for understanding the contemporary migratory, ecological, and social crises affecting Nuestra America. Gargallo's thought thus provides theoretical and ethical tools for rethinking the relationship between humanity, territory and justice through a critical perspective grounded in memory, the body, and diaspora.