PhD Oral Exam - Diane Roberts, Humanities - Fine Arts

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

This dissertation shines a light on the Arrivals Personal Legacy (Arrivals) process—an interdisciplinary creative methodology designed to unearth and recover embodied root cultural practices and authentic creative impulses through ancestral connections. After over 20 years facilitating legacies of return and recovery for Indigenous and Racialised artists across Canada and internationally, I answer the call to follow my own Arrivals recovery journey drawing on my root culture: the Garifuna. My dissertation chronicles my journey as I trace my cultural legacy– exploring my root culture, history, language and songs and other creative practices. The ‘Sacred Wandering’ journey explored in my dissertation draws on Glissant’s concept of errantry–which translates to wandering for a sacred purpose. I discover during my sojourn, that the Garifuna story of resistance and ultimate exile mirrors both the forced displacement of African peoples and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples here on Turtle Island. I weave threads of connection between theory, sojourning and the practice of the Arrivals Legacy process. Relying on my body, mind, voice/breath, and spirit as portals through which to examine the fragmented histories that define me as leader and founder of the Arrivals Legacy process, I affirm the process as a vital decolonial tool for research and creation.