"From Enclosure to (Re)Grounding: The Reversibility of Colonial Debt Structures in Contemporary Cinema—
Freda (Caroline Monnet, 2021) and Bootlegger (Gessica Généus, 2021)" — CSWS research grant fellow Sarah Agou, PhD candidate in Romance languages, discusses two Haitian films that center their plots on a young female student protagonist and their role in rebuilding their community by reversing the ingrained commonplace of colonial legacies, imperial debts, and historical misrepresentations. Freda is considered the first feature-length film in Haitian Creole, while Bootlegger has the same status for Anishinaabemowin. Reversal becomes a tool to break circles of oppression, coloniality, and silencing, and opens a space for what Leanne Betasamosake Simpson calls “grounded normativity.”

12–1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7  |  330 Hendricks Hall |  1408 University Street, Eugene