If we take a look at the ocean as an archive, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, The Water Will Carry Us Home by Gabriella Tesfaye’s, and the rise of Blue Humanities all collectively challenge history by arguing that the memories of the voiceless persist in water itself. This matters because it exposes how our traditional understanding of what history is has always allowed for the erasure of the marginalized. These histories have survived through resilience, collective memory, and cultural expression. History, especially in the West, has traditionally revolved around the documentation of set experiences that enslaved or colonized people have been deliberately excluded from. The Ocean holds a history that has never been written down, making me raise the essential question “Where does their history exist?!” and how do we determine who gets remembered or who gets erased.
In Rivers Solomon’s “The Deep” we are taken on a journey of imagining a world where history is physically located in the water. Instead of records as proof of a shared history, the Ocean and its selected historian, Yetum, carry the heavy weight of a history rarely told, enslaved people during the Atlantic trade.The quote, “Without answers there is only a hole. A hole where a history should be that takes the shape of an endless longing. We are cavities” (pg.8) gave me chills as it perfectly captures the feeling of how having a history that is denied from or inaccessible to you creates this hollow feeling of nothingness. By looking at the Ocean as an archive we challenge how history is defined while also recognizing the effects of generational trauma. Not only does Solomon argue that history doesn’t have to be written down to be authentic and real, but also that erased histories of people still persist.
Similarly, Gabriella Tesfaye’s short film “The Water Will Carry Us Home”, connects African peoples back to a history of their ancestors. The frame above is an image of a scrapbook-like journal where we are physically shown what it looks like to create a history for people who are often erased. In both, water holds their history. This is extremely powerful because to have to create your own history means you are living proof of the aftermath that is this something incredibly uncomfortable, displacement. The scrapbook feel adds to the emotional weight of having to scrap fragments of a history that was silenced. The film also challenges this idea that history must be written to be real by creating a visual representation of ritual and connection to the natural world as part of their history.
In the article “The Blue Humanities” by John Gillis he brings up an excellent example of why these questions exist, what the rise of Blue Humanities is working to undo. The quote, “All that lay beneath the surface- The Deep -was thought to be an unfathomable abyss, impenetrable and unknowable, a dark dead zone that trapped all that sank below the surface, never revealing its secrets” (pg.5) gives us another explanation as to why the concept of the Ocean as a history has been traditionally ignored. He explains that the Ocean had previously only been studied from a land-centered perspective. Meaning, that traditional archives are not completely accurate. Which also means that if the history of oppressed peoples lives in water, then forgetting to include them in written history is erasure. The Blue Humanities challenges the idea that a history has to be written down to be true because there is no way “a dark dead zone” is ever really “dead”. This can not be true considering, the Ocean is home to thousands of thriving organisms and spices. This again, reaffirms that although it has been ignored, the history of the Ocean exists.
The images above are of a facial setting mist by one of the most popular brands in the beauty industry. The campaign connects the past erasure with a rescue healing mist told through the story of Mami Wata, a water deity/spirit we discussed in our reading of African mermaids and water spirits readings. I decided to include this finding as it relates to my essay because it’s proof that these histories are not dead. This history hidden in the archive of the Ocean is still being told today.
Works Cited:
“Eadem on Instagram: ‘Repair and Revive with Mami Wata Ultra Calming Mist.’” Instagram, Eadem.co, www.instagram.com/reel/DEiEhuWP3wC/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.
Gillis, John R., et al. “The Blue Humanities.” National Endowment for the Humanities, www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/mayjune/feature/the-blue-humanities. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.
Solomon, Rivers, et al. The Deep. Saga Press, 2020.
Tesfaye, Gabrielle. “The Water Will Carry Us Home.” YouTube, youtu.be/dGlhXhIiax8?si=IzsFRoyJuGS_x4Uj. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.
