Sonic Cartographies:
Tracing the Garifuna Migration through Sound
As part of Central American Futurities 2.0—a transnational two-day conference held at Dartmouth College in April 2025—artist and composer Philip P. Harper (Tru) presented a site-specific iteration of his research project “ECHOES“, Tracing the Garifuna Migration through Sound. This sound-based work maps the migratory pathways of the Garifuna people from the coasts of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama into Southern Belize- using sound as a connective tissue between land, language, memory, and the resistance embodied by diasporic communities.
The presentation took place within the “Care, Community, Identity & Autonomy” panel, alongside thought leaders such as Tomás Ayuso, Dorian Wood, Trooko, José Giddel, Derrick Martinez (nephew of Garifuna music legend Aurelio Martinez), and Dr. Eileen Galvez among others. By layering archival interviews, traditional paranda and Garifuna music, and original compositions, Tru reimagined a sound map—not just as a historical tool, but as a living archive that breathes with ancestral rhythm. The resulting sonic experience offered a deeply immersive journey through Central American geography and Black Indigenous memory.
This research continues FORTHEFUTURE’s mission of documenting diasporic memory and community repair through art, education, and experimentation. Tru’s approach centers sound not simply as accompaniment, but as a primary medium of storytelling—one that can both reveal silences in the archive and amplify hidden truths. At the heart of this work is the understanding that the Garifuna narrative, often overlooked or flattened by broader national histories, holds valuable keys to understanding resistance, cultural continuity, and healing.
Through ECHOES Tru bridges the sonic and the scholarly, crafting an experience that is felt and understood. The presentation sparked dialogue across generations, inviting listeners to reflect on the entanglement of land, identity, and sound as a method of both research and resistance. In this way, the project stands as a testament to the power of listening as a radical act—one that uncovers, remembers, and reimagines.
Images c/o E. Hong, CAFC 2025
Explore more from ECHOES and our evolving research into sound, place, and diaspora.