Care webs and the creole garden in Manthia Diawara’s Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how the techniques of surviving Atlantic slavery leave legacies of care, notably in the practice of the jardin créole (creole garden) as a counter-plantation practice of mutual distribution. By taking up Édouard Glissant’s theorisation of the jardin créole in Manthia Diawara’s documentary, Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation, the author shows how Diawara’s staging, filming and editing of Glissant’s remarks amplify how the jardin créole functions as a care web. In its visual dialogue with the jardin créole, Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation demonstrates the role of documentary film in illuminating the ethics of care.