Black African diaspora between the artistic narrative of self-resilience and the burden of otherness in Catalonia. A contextual analysis of Nosaltres by Moussa Touré (2005), Negrers by Jordi Portals (2023), and the creative dynamic of Periferia Cimarronas in Barcelona.

This paper is underpinned by the Heiderggerian notion of Dasein (being there) applied to the interracial and interethnic encounter in Catalonia. It delves into the Sartrian concept of committed art -a reaction to a specific historical narrative in a particular cultural or political context- to asses artistic productions, especially cinema, and theatre. I approach cinema and theatre from postcolonial/decolonial perspective that makes my analysis bearable in the socio-historical context of cultural encounters between Catalans and the African diaspora in Catalonia. The main aim here is to assess the contribution of the African diaspora and African descents in creating a new Catalan cultural code having in mind the Senghorian theory of Universal Civilisation -regarded here as a place or space of cultural exchange between different "ethnic-cultural" origins. I conducted a case study on two documentary films (Nosaltres by the Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Touré and Negrers by the Catalan essayist and screenwriter Jordi Portals) and one self-organized artistic space, Periferia CImaronas, created by African Descents in Barcelona. Moussa Touré's Nosaltres (2005) depicts the reality of a group of Malian migrants in the small Catalan village of Sant Feliu de Codines. Touré's film reflects the self-respected narrative of the Malians and their role in the cultural makeup of Sant Feliu while enabling this collective of Black Africans to express their pride in their cultural origins, regardless of the judgment of the local community. The debate on otherness triggered in Nosaltres is amplified in Catalan society eighteen years after the release of Negrers: La Catalunya esclavista by Jordi Portals (2023). This documentary, based on interviews with historians, activists, and anthropologists, hits in the heat of the popular memory of Catalonia about the participation of Catalan traders in the transatlantic slave trade. My interest in Negrers relies on the film's reception by the Catalan audience since it was screened in theaters and shown on the regional television of Catalonia in prime time. The back and forth between film criticism and discourse analysis allowed me to build my argument on the intertwined relation between popular memories, otherness, and cultural exchange. The reaction of the Catalan audience faced with their popular memory disrupted by Negrers shed light on the attitude, discourses, and artistic narrative put forward by members of Perifería Cimarronas. This group of African-descents artists created and managed in Barcelona city, a self-respected and self-resilient creative space to counter the dominant cultural background of Catalonia.