Performance Hosted by Georgetown University in Qatar Explores Lasting Legacy of Slavery
During a powerful theatrical event, Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) reflected on its history with the staging and discussion of Here I Am, the acclaimed one-person play written and performed by Mélisande Short-Colomb. Staged for the first time outside of America, the original production of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University (The Lab) uses narrative, music, and multimedia imagery to explore themes of identity, memory, and institutional responsibility.
Here I Am confronts the legacy of America’s slave economy by tracing Georgetown alumna Short-Colomb’s ancestral journey through 11 generations of maternal grandmothers back to her family’s enslavement on Jesuit-owned plantations which were funding the development of Georgetown University, and their eventual sale in 1838 to pay the university’s debts.
Reflecting on the significance of this event on the 20th Anniversary of GU-Q, Dean Safwan Masri stated: “Hosting this performance at GU-Q is deeply meaningful. It reflects the intellectually fearless institution we have built over two decades and reinforces our growing connection with Georgetown’s Washington, DC, campus in the shared pursuit of truth and understanding.”
Following the play, a panel discussion about the origins and outcomes of the play featured Short-Colomb in conversation with Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, co-founding director of The Lab, and Dr. Anita Gonzalez, professor of performing arts and African American studies, and co-founder of the Racial Justice Institute at Georgetown University.
Short-Colomb, who began developing Here I Am as part of a university course in 2019, later joined The Lab as a Community Engagement Associate and worked with a multidisciplinary team spanning the U.S. and West Africa to bring her story to the stage in 2021, where it has sparked important conversations. “The study of slavery and the study of history is only as important as its connection to the reality of now for the choices in the future,” she said.
Dr. Anita Gonzalez, professor of performing arts and African American studies, and co-founder of the Racial Justice Institute, praised Short-Colomb saying: “I believe stories can change the world…You really presented a story that changes how we sit in this room, because we have another way of reflecting upon what we do in this educational space.” She went on to thank GU-Q students for adding their voices to the conversation on racial justice from their own contexts.
Ambassador Schneider, a former US Ambassador to the Netherlands, explained the importance of staging the play to make connections and find solutions. “This is a very American narrative, not only in the story of slavery, but in the way that we and Georgetown University is presenting, in an honest way a very challenging and unsolved problem,” she said, adding “Maybe you can help us solve it, maybe we can think this through together.”