On 22 and 23 June 2026, the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study hosted the first edition of the Diaspo'Roots Festival, a public showcase of the ongoing research-creation project led by visiting researcher Ma-Woury Cissé. Bringing together an exhibition, a documentary screening, a roundtable discussion, participatory workshops, and community gatherings, the festival welcomed researchers, artists, community organisations, and local residents to explore questions of transmission, memory, and cultural commons within Nantes' Senegalese communities.
How are memories passed on? What remains of the everyday gestures, shared meals, and quiet acts of solidarity that shape a community? These were the questions at the heart of the Diaspo'Roots Festival, which brought participants together in a warm and deeply collaborative atmosphere.
As one stage in Ma-Woury Cissé's ongoing research-creation project, Diaspo'Roots created a space for dialogue where academic research met personal narratives, community-based initiatives, and lived experience. It was a reminder that the commons are not only objects of study, but are also shaped through relationships, conversations, and the stories we choose to pass on.
The exhibition Au temps des yenduu nantais opened the festival, inviting visitors to explore several decades of history within Nantes' Senegalese diaspora through archival photographs, everyday objects, and sound recordings. On 23 June, the programme brought research and creative practice into conversation through the premiere of the first episode of Ma-Woury Cissé's documentary project, a roundtable discussion featuring Nathalie Bondetti, Khady Sakho Niang, and Aminata Sylla, and a series of participatory workshops where participants shared memories, experiences, and reflections on transmission, cultural resistance, and the commons.
The photographs below, taken by Pauline Théon, capture some of the highlights of these two inspiring days.
You can also listen to the full roundtable discussion as a podcast (in french).
For the first time, audiences were able to discover the opening episode of Ma-Woury Cissé's documentary project. Focusing on the memories and stories of Nantes' Senegalese diaspora, this first instalment highlights the experiences of recently arrived women through interviews and testimonies gathered as part of the ongoing research-creation project. Premiered at the Institute, it offered a moving first glimpse into a documentary that continues to evolve.
