Dominant discourses of migration in the media tend to victimize and dehumanize migrants or reinforce the strongly imagined norm of national and stable communities disrupted by migrants, even when there are many examples of migrants enriching those communities economically and culturally. Using an intersectional lens, this ethnography explores how creatives with (forced) migrant backgrounds in Amsterdam navigate place-belongingness, and reshape their identity through art practices. Grounded in engaged anthropology and arts-based research methods, I explore the emotional, political, and sensory side of belonging while also democratizing and decolonizing hegemonic anthropological research methods. Within this research, I refer to the creatives as knowledge holders, as they carry the lived experience of migration , displacement, and art practices – passing down their knowledge to me.

Life stories of creatives illustrate that belonging is not a fixed or linear journey from the individual to a collective. By distinguishing ‘being’ from ‘longing,’ this ethnography delves into the political dimensions of yearning for home, connection, or a place to root. Aimee Carrillo Rowe’s (2008) concept of “to be longing” from Powerlines emphasizes how longing is shaped by socio-political contexts, where it embodies both desire and displacement. This longing reveals the fluidity of identity and the continuous transformation that occurs as we navigate spaces and relationships. Carrillo Rowe suggests that longing is not just a personal feeling but a political act— our desires for home or belonging are always informed by histories of colonization, migration, and systemic oppression. What we long for shifts depending on where our bodies are located and with whom we interact. This movement, this becoming, is a process that reflects how identities and affiliations are continuously reconstituted, rooted in the places we inhabit and the people we encounter.

By splitting belonging into ‘being’ and ‘longing,’ this approach underscores that longing is about more than simply joining a community—it’s about the ongoing negotiation of identity and space, influenced by our desires and the external forces that shape our sense of self and place.

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