Political Movement: Studying Migrant Activist Art While Abroad 

By Devyn Gilbert, University of Washington

Hello! I’m Devyn, an International Studies student minoring in Human Rights, History, and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. I’m from Edmonds, Washington, and I love playing guitar and harmonica in my free time. I’m also a painter (I’ve included a picture of a painting I did a few years ago) and I’m an avid bird watcher. In the future, I hope to use the research skills I will sharpen during my study abroad program to pursue a PhD in Comparative Politics and become a professor. 

My study abroad program centers around how art can act as a form of political engagement among migrants, including art produced by and about migrants. I intend to research the question of how migration has affected religious beliefs and expression via political art in León. Specifically, I’m interested in migrants’ shifting beliefs which manifest in their art as their milieus change. I am open, however, to transformation in this question as I learn more about León and the artists who live there. To answer my question, I will use a mixed-methods approach combining ethnographic analysis of migrant art with qualitative interviews of migrant artists. 

My interest in this topic has steadily developed since I took a class on immigration during my sophomore year of college. We discussed how different people respond to the pressure to integrate into a host society. While some may embrace aspects of their new country’s culture, others may cling to traditions they brought from their country of origin. Given my interest in how religion influences transnational political movements, as well as the fact that many migrant support organizations are affiliated with a religion, I felt that religious expression in migrant political art would be an excellent topic to explore in this program. My studies, both in class and in my extracurricular research, have strongly incorporated the rights of migrants, and I’m excited to take a more interdisciplinary approach to this topic by considering migrants’ artistic productions. 

I plan to travel to León for 22 days alongside a group of my peers, with day trips to other cities in northern Spain. I will take classes on Spanish language and culture at the University of León, as well as classes on positionality, migration, and political art at the UW León Center. What I learn in these classes will help to inform the research project I conduct while abroad. I believe that doing this research in Spain will benefit me in numerous ways. Firstly, it will give me the opportunity to experience language immersion and hone my ability to speak Spanish. Currently, I’m best at reading and writing Spanish, and I’m very enthusiastic about being able to develop my listening and speaking abilities in Spain. Secondly, I will have the chance to conduct interviews in my second language, which I’ve never done before and which will be invaluable to me in my continuing research on other countries as I pursue my PhD in Comparative Politics. Finally, doing this research project in Spain will give me direct access to a network of migrant artists in León and will enable me to conduct qualitative, in-person interviews. 

Apart from my academic growth, I believe that this trip will support me in advancing my independence and life skills. I’ve never traveled alone, let alone left the United States before, so planning this trip, from buying the right plane tickets to getting a passport to having the courage to take on the commitment of travel, has been a tremendous challenge for me. So far, however, this process has also shown me that I can have faith in my own abilities. It has shown me that I am capable, enduring, and resilient, and I know that I will be able to face whatever challenges this trip throws my way. This has also given me the courage required to take advantage of opportunities on my trip. I hope to use these skills to make the most of my time abroad by being open to new experiences, even when they scare me a bit, and actively participating in activities with my study abroad group. I look forward not only to conducting my research, but also to building relationships with my peers through these shared experiences and continuing to foster my faith in myself. I am grateful for the support of the Tyler Center in supporting me through this journey.