The dECOlonial Feelin’ Symposium, was an invitation to explore art, language, philosophy, and anthropology through the lens of land, wind, water, and fire, that came full circle on St. Croix with a powerful final event — La Vaughn Belle’s performance art walk through downtown Christiansted Sunday entitled “Out of the Sunken Mist of Our Desire.”
Beginning on St. Thomas over the summer of 2024 and continuing in Atlanta that September, the series sought to unravel colonial frameworks and center the Virgin Islands as a site of deep historical, economic, and cultural study — not only for itself but as a key to understanding global efforts for liberation.
This culminating performance walk was both ritual and revelation, a weaving of memory, resistance, and elemental force. At Sunday Market Square, Belle initiated the journey by sprinkling water on the earth, simulating the pouring of libation along the path, setting the stage for an offering. As attendees moved through the landscape, Belle guided them through layered histories using prose and art created with the architecture and at the wells.
“What freedom looks like — it’s wet,” Belle declared at the Fish Market Well, invoking resistance and the deep ties between water and liberation. The Water Gut, once a thriving free Black community, became a focal point of reflection — livelihoods erased to make way for public housing communities. Participants were challenged to observe the differences between an archival postcard of what was, the messages below the surface, and what could have been.
Land held its own lessons. A baobab tree, with its gnarled bark and immense presence, became a touchstone for endurance. With roots tracing back over 6,000 years, Belle noted the baobab tree has been a witness to forced migrations, survival strategies, and quiet rebellions. Belle encouraged attendees to see it not just as a tree but to imagine what inspired enslaved Africans to plant the first seed. She questioned whether it was seen as a symbol of resilience — a living resource of adaptation and strength. The baobab tree is known for being resilient to drought, fire, and arid climates, as it can hold thousands of liters of water in its thick, spongy trunks.
“Dormancy or rest?” she asked, further challenging the audience to rethink the ways history is held and told.
At the walk’s final stop, standing atop an old well, Belle extended an invitation: “Well wishes.” Attendees spoke their deepest desires — sovereignty, peace, joy, education, love — each word a ripple in the now-sacred space, each sentiment a part of the ongoing decolonial conversation.
“Storytelling is an ancient technology,” Tiphanie Yanique, member of the Virgin Islands Collective Studies and professor at Emory University, offered, capturing the essence of the symposium itself. While activist, educator, and community organizer Sayeeda Carter wished for the youth to reflect on the impact of the saying, “It is bad not to know, but worse not to want to know.”
As the event came to a close, Hadiya Sewer, member of VISCO, delivered final words, invoking the power of always being connected through water, through the elements. They honored the spirit of Tami Navarro, the fourth member of VISCO, cultural anthropologist and assistant professor and chair of Africana, who was unable to be physically present this weekend. Sewer closed in speaking tongues, a gesture that transcended language, time, and geography, a fitting end to a journey that had sought to unravel, reclaim, and transform.
This dECOlonial Feelin’ Symposium series was made possible by the following: The Virgin Islands Studies Collective, Emory College, Emory University Libraries and Museum, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta Global Research Collaborative, Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center, CHANT, Virgin Islands Good Food, and Emory Initiative for Arts and Humanistic Inquiry.
To learn more about the Virgin Islands Collective Studies, visit https://www.vistudiescollective.org.
