Images that build community: the photographic collection of the zamoran colony in cuba as an expression of migrant associationalism

Abstract

The photographic collection of the Colonia Zamorana in Cuba, currently comprising 7,322
digitised images, constitutes an exceptional record of Zamoran emigration and the role of
associationism as a strategy for social organisation and identity projection in the diaspora. This
article offers a critical examination of the collection through a mixed-methods approach that
integrates descriptive statistical analysis and visual ethnography. Its primary objective is to
explore how photographic practices have contributed to the construction of community, the
preservation of transnational ties with Zamora, and the generation of collective memory within
the Cuban migratory context. The findings reveal significant patterns in the visual representation
of social activities, generational continuities, and gender roles, while also demonstrating the role
of photography as a medium of symbolic cohesion and a visual mechanism for reproducing a
diasporic Zamoran identity.