Experiencing internal displacement: poetic artistic work of collective action based on narrative testimonial material

This artistic poetic text draws on narrative testimonial material from a small group of community garden volunteers in Honduras who share a first-hand experience of internal displacement
Published on November 17, 2021
Francesca Randazzo Eisemann | lanid, Humanities, Arts, Researcher, Americas (inc Caribbean)
Honduras. Huerto comunitario Ángeles para San Juancito © Francesca Randazzo Eisemann

Honduras. Huerto comunitario Ángeles para San Juancito © Francesca Randazzo Eisemann

Proust’s famous remembrance of his childhood by the taste of a madeleine cake illustrates how involuntary memory recovers a time that can be repopulated with spaces, through inner poetic discovery. Through an artistic textual format, the intention is to put into value the individual experience of a small group of volunteers from Ángeles para San Juancito community garden (Francisco Morazán, Honduras), who share a first-hand experience of forced internal displacement. By enhancing the poetic background of a basic element of their diet, whether it is the origin or the host community, texts are created to tell a short story capable of giving meaning to the experience (Ricoeur). Originally, the Cité Nationale de l’Immigration (Paris) wanted to highlight a donated evocative object, capable of giving a posteriori meaning (Schuz) to the history of migration itself. This work seeks to return to the sensitivity of that experience.

 

READ THE WORK HERE (in Spanish)

 

Francesca Randazzo Eisemann is a poet and sociologist. Of Italian and German origin, she was born in Honduras (1973), where she is a university professor. She has been a volunteer for many years, both with Manos sin Fronteras, an organization that promotes neural stimulation technique, and with the environmental group Ángeles para San Juancito, within which this work was developed.

This work was created by the author during her Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Program of the Refugee Law Initiative. The grant was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

Researching Internal Displacement publishes engaging and insightful short pieces of writing, artistic and research outputs, policy briefings and think pieces on internal displacement.

We welcome contributions from academics, practitioners, researchers, officials, artists, poets, writers, musicians, dancers, postgraduate students and people affected by internal displacement.

By Sanjula Weerasinghe | Nov 5, 2026
On the eve of COP 31, this thoughtful, reflective short article relays a simple but vital message from the recent Pacific Pre-COP meeting: the need to listen to Pacific voices. Policymakers, experts and advocates seeking to shape effective approaches to climate-related mobility can learn from Pacific leadership, knowledge and innovation. As observed at Pacific Pre-COP, Pacific approaches to climate-related mobility are deeply interwoven with the goals of keeping 1.5°C within reach, accessing predictable climate finance and elevating ocean-based climate action and sustainable ocean management. They also prioritise peoples’ ability to remain safely in their homes, acknowledge the need for well-supported alternatives, including rights-based relocation and migration with dignity, and recognise that such mobility pathways often entail profound loss, which must be addressed. Ultimately, learning from Pacific experiences benefits the entire world. As noted by Palau’s President, “What reaches our shores today, will also reach your shores…”. As COP 31 begins, negotiators and advocates should listen.
By Sarah Koeltzow (ed.) and Erica Bower (ed.) | Nov 3, 2026
“Towards Dignified Climate Relocation: Community Perspectives from around the Globe” is a thematic miniseries guest-edited by Sarah Koeltzow and Erica Bower, co-facilitators of the Coalition on Dignified Climate Relocation (CDCR). It brings together relocating community leaders, researchers, advocates and practitioners from across the CDCR to examine diverse experiences of planned relocation and identify lessons about what rights-respecting, community-led relocation looks like in practice and how national policy should enable it. The series includes five ‘community perspective’ articles from the Americas, Asia and Africa, featuring the experiences and insights of coalition members from relocating communities and the organisations and researchers supporting them. An Introductory essay by the guest editors distils the experiences and lessons from the planned relocations spotlighted in the series. The essay and the other articles in the series demonstrate that planned relocation is much more than an infrastructure project; it is a multidimensional process of economic, social and cultural rebuilding.
By Sarah Koeltzow and Erica Bower | Nov 2, 2026
This final article in the miniseries, Towards Dignified Climate Relocation: Community Perspectives from around the Globe, distils the experiences and lessons from planned relocations in Mexico, Panama, India and Malawi, as recounted in earlier articles of this series, co-produced by RID and the Coalition on Dignified Planned Relocation. The articles were authored by members of the Coalition, who accompanied or witnessed these relocations. This essay, by the series guest editors, highlights the importance of community leadership, the need for “all of community” consultation and engagement, the importance of cultural sensitivity and responding to experiences of loss and grief, and the need to monitor outcomes over time. Critically, planned relocation isn’t just an infrastructure project; it is a multidimensional process of economic, social and cultural rebuilding. Planned relocation is a unique form of climate mobility, and supporting the exchange of key insights from communities around the world is essential. That work is at the heart of the Coalition on Dignified Climate Relocation's mission.