Movimiento Anansé Inc., the new structure of our movement
Movimiento Anansé Inc. (m.a.i) is a community based nonprofit organization (501c3). We are the umbrella organization of étnica´s multimedia and social impact projects.
Since our beginnings we´ve had the clarity of being a space of positive representation for black people and black communities from a racial and social justice arc. In 2016 we incorporated étnica L3C as a social enterprise in Puerto Rico and launched in 2018 our first edition of Revista étnica. Since then we have created projects and programs that have permitted us to get the resources from foundations and we saw the strategic need of creating and incorporating an umbrella nonprofit organization that represents in its organizational model the projects of Fundación and Revista étnica and the multimedia platforms like Radio étnica, literary and healing through creative writing projects like editorial étnica. Movimiento Anansé also includes a community space and media center: casa étnica and Archivo Negro (the first photographical and video digital archive of black people in Puerto Rico), and other projects.
étnica remains registered as a brand and projects of Movimiento Anansé and we reaffirm that we exist because they try to make us disappear and racism has kept our lives and dignity under threat. From our umbrella organization and projects we change narratives to give visibility and dignity to our black and afrolatinx communities around the world. We create spaces for opportunities, healing and growth with our communities to eradicate racism and discrimination.
Our mission is to highlight and reflect the identities of black and afrodescendent people. We will give visibility, amplify their voices and give positive and powerful representation through our multimedia platforms.
The name Ananse comes from the existence of Anansesem, narratives and traditional african stories from the culture and town of Akan in Ghana. Ananse ntontan also corresponds to the adinkra symbology that can be found in figures, structures, fabrics and architecture in Akan. These symbols collect beauty, messages and fauna, flora and daily life archetypes. Ananse ntontan symbolizes the spiderweb, its social and living structure, the support networks, solidarity and collaboration. This symbol also exemplifies the sun and its rays, also the vitality and creative powers. These symbols and the Anansi (spider) mythology and the traditional african stories survived the transatlantic slavetrade and kept legacy in the voices of our african ancestors through oral narratives. Anansi is a spider (that for us is not gendered) and has the wisdom, strategies and stories that will let us eradicate racism. From this movement, from Anansé (with the accent mark of reaffirmation in the letter “é”), we resignify, dignify, create and amplify our narratives to heal. We are an antiracist and transfeminist movement and platform that gives visibility to the cultural, artistic and artivist work that claims the racial justice for black people in all their intersectionalities. From Borikén (Puerto Rico) and the Caribbean with a Global reach and perspectives.
We are part of a movement and community of collaboration, we are not organizing alone. As the Ethiopian proverb says: When the spiders unite they can tie down a lion...