Last November, Professor Lisa Gilman began research on a new project, My Culture, My Survival: Refugees and the Power of Intangible Cultural Heritage, by visiting the Tumaini Festival at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. Just 30 miles north of the capital city Lilongwe, the festival was founded by Trésor Nzengu Mpauni, also known by his stage name, Menes La Plume. Mpauni is a poet and musician from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is living as a refugee in Malawi. He founded the festival with the intention of bringing the Malawian citizens into the camp to enjoy the arts, dance, and music with camp residents and to combat widespread anti-refugee sentiment and xenophobia within the country.
Over the years the festival has grown into a multi-day event that features hundreds of artists, musicians, poets, dancers, and actors from the Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi, and beyond. The festival attracts thousands of guests, and a unique feature of the festival is a home-stay program, where guests pay for lodging with host families within the camp. Gilman stayed with a Burundian family that has been refugees for nearly 27 years. Gilman noted that a daughter in the family with whom she spent the most time, Divine Irakoze, is only two years older than Gilman’s eldest daughter. The difference in the two girls’ lives is striking. Because Irakoze was born a refugee and does not yet have a nationality, her opportunities for education and employment are heavily restricted.
Supported by a Faculty Research and Development Award from the College of Humanities and Social Science, Gilman plans to return to this summer and begin research on arts and cultural heritage in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp.
Learn more about the festival here: https://www.tumainifestival.org
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