Digital Storytelling, Women Migrants, and Artivism: Poetry as a Political Device
摘要
This chapter examines the intersection of artivism and migrant experiences through digital storytelling, as featured in the Humanizing Deportation digital archive. It focuses on the experiences of female migrants and is grounded in the theory of art as cultural resistance. It analyzes two audiovisual digital poems created by women to highlight how they use art to reshape societal perceptions about migrants and migration. The methodology involves a rhetorical analysis of “Alas pa’ volar/ Wings to fly” by Juana Méndez and “Refugee” by Ana Maria Fores Tamayo. Both stories incorporate various artistic forms such as drawings, pictures, music, and tattoos. Méndez’s narrative critiques the American immigration system by discussing her deportation experience. At the same time, Fores Tamayo’s poem recounts a fictional migration journey and the harsh realities of the female poetic voice and her son’s face. The findings demonstrate that both artists use digital storytelling to create cultural disruptions and challenge migrant stereotypes. By intertwining their poems with other artistic expressions and utilizing audiovisual elements, Méndez and Fores Tamayo’s works serve as powerful tools for social denunciation and the assertion of rights, transforming the perception of migrants and their experiences.