Welding Borderlands: An Assemblage of Memory, Movement, and Embodied Translation

Abstract

This thesis offers a dance-based practice called welding as a generative tool of embodied translation. welding, created by Natalia Cervantes, is a layered practice that physicalizes seemingly intangible borderlands, or third/in-between spaces, through the body in motion to make them more accessible to process. This practice involves artifacts, movement, sound, and video elements. The borderlands of focus are between and across bodies, materials, generations, memories, and more. With an autoethnographic approach grounded in a multimedia creative process, three research trips to México, and familial oral history conversations, this thesis positions the body as an archive of generational memory and the site where borderlands materialize. This research was shared through a community journey, “welding borderlands | soldando las tierras fronterizas,” comprised of four layers: a migration, an immersive installation, a sharing of welding, and a celebration. Along and beyond this journey, guests were invited to reconnect with generational memory, reflect on personal archival practices, and celebrate in community. At its core, this work aims to make space for Latinx identities, communities, and stories.