Sylvia Wynter's Dream

by Blaire Santos | December 21, 2023 | Final Project

All right, this lick down ketch we, how we wa move on from ya?

Silvaana udz

Hib Ahn Lang Shoa is an ongoing project aimed at continuing the stories those gone before us and drawing connections between their deaths and social amnesia. “Hib ahn lang shoa” is a Belizean Creole phrase which literally translates to “throw it along the shore.” However, it is a “call to continue after an interruption in story-telling”;¹ thus, the real meaning is closer to “let the story continue.” Death is the ultimate interruption to people’s stories. When analysed through the lens of amnesia, the reoccurrence of preventable death reveals an alarming trend of forgetting the lessons learnt from past mistakes that lead to continued loss. 

Atolls

Atolls are rim shaped coral reefs formed on the perimeters of sunken islands with a lagoon in the middle. There are approximately 440 atolls in the world, but only four of them are in the Western Hemisphere and three of those four are in Belize.

Some people are like atolls. When they sink into afterlife, a new ecosystem forms on their perimeters, keeping an imprint of what once was.

Dennis’ Atoll

Francis’ Atoll

Do you Have a Story to Share?

Braata

“Braata” means extra, usually in the context of a buyer getting extra from a shopkeeper to encourage future sales.² Here, we can talk about the impact of people’s lives and continue their legacies.

Interview with Silvaana Udz on Belizean Hero, Leela Vernon

1. Herrera et al. 147, Kriol – Inglish dikshineri = English – Kriol dictionary (sil.org) ↩︎
2. Herrera et al. 63. ↩︎