From roots to reefs: metaphors for relational praxis from the diasporas of Abya Yala and Moana Nui

Abstract

Contending against colonial and liberal explanations of racialized identity, the authors offer new articulations of race and Indigeneity as a journey from roots to reefs. This work is inspired by the author’s relationships as communities born from Moana Nui (the Pacific Ocean) and Abya Yala (Latin America). The article begins with the theoretical genealogies of trans-Indigeneity as conceptualized by Chadwick Allen and the Tongan (Indigenous people of Tonga) Tā-Vā (time–space) theory of reality. Drawing and applying trans-Indigenous scholarship allows them to use art or poetry to demonstrate pathways of inter-connections among both communities with tā-vā as a conceptual lens to identify relational moments in time and space. Their work is informed by a K’iche’ Maya (the largest group of Mayan peoples currently living in Central America) scholar with Pacific Islander relationships as a relational praxis that is possible among both communities.