Community filmmaking as research: (re)considering knowledge production through the camera's lens

Abstract

In southern Chile, Mapuche Indigenous communities are using video and digital filmmaking to collectively reflect on and communicate knowledge. This article shares their experience, arguing that with the increasing accessibility of information and communication technologies, we should be rethinking and broadening the acceptable ways to generate and convey knowledge about development. Acknowledging the diverse ways of knowing and communicating knowledge, this article suggests that video can be a powerful tool for self-representative knowledge-sharing by Indigenous communities. Only by expanding our debates beyond written media can we engage equitably with a plurality of knowledge-holders to resolve development challenges.

Dans le sud du Chili, des communautés autochtones mapuches utilisent la réalisation de films vidéo et numériques pour mener une réflexion collective sur les connaissances et pour les communiquer. Cet article présente leur expérience et soutient qu'avec l'accessibilité croissante des technologies de l'information et de la communication, nous devrions repenser et élargir les manières acceptables de générer et de transmettre les connaissances relatives au développement. Reconnaissant les diverses manières d'acquérir et de communiquer les connaissances, cet article suggère que la vidéo peut constituer un outil puissant pour le partage de connaissances auto-représentatives par les communautés autochtones. Ce n'est qu'en élargissant nos débats au-delà des médias écrits que nous pourrons dialoguer équitablement avec une série de détenteurs de connaissances afin de relever les défis touchant au développement.

Actualmente, las comunidades mapuches del sur de Chile utilizan el video y las producciones digitales para analizar y compartir conocimientos en forma colectiva. El presente artículo da cuenta de sus vivencias al respecto, sosteniendo que, debido a la creciente disponibilidad de tecnologías informáticas y comunicativas, se ha vuelto necesario reflexionar en torno a cómo ampliar los medios existentes con el fin de generar y transmitir conocimientos sobre el desarrollo­­. Al aceptar que existen diversos saberes y distintas maneras de comunicarlos, el presente artículo postula que el video puede ser una herramienta importante que, en manos de comunidades indígenas, podrá utilizarse para autocompartir sus conocimientos. En este sentido, a fin de que sea posible que el intercambio de distintos saberes se lleve a cabo en un plano de igualdad y que puedan abordarse los retos que implica el desarrollo, los debates al respecto tendrán que trascender los confines de los medios impresos.

Keywords:

• Technology – Media
• ICT
• Civil society – Participation
• Partnership
• Methods
• Gender and diversity –Youth
• Latin America and the Caribbean

Acknowledgements

[Ariella] I thank the IDRC Communications Division and in particular, Louise Guénette for supporting this unconventional process. I thank my co-authors for being open to this exercise, in which we were able to learn from and with each other.

[Juan] I would like to thank Ariella for giving us the opportunity to share, through this article, our vision and our experience.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Ariella Orbach is an independent rural development practitioner and researcher. She has worked with Mapuche communities in Chile since 2008, co-founding the Strategic Video Initiative to develop audiovisual capacity building projects that support local development priorities. Ariella holds an MSc in Rural Planning and Development from the University of Guelph.

Juan Rain is Mapuche Lafkenche from Malalhue, Budi traditional territory, Chile. He is a subsistence farmer. Within his people's reconstruction process, he has taken the role of Mapuche communicator. He was director of a radio programme broadcast throughout Lafkenche territory. He is a member of Lafken Ñy Zugvn, the coordinating body of the Mapuche communicators of his territory.

Roberto Contreras is a maths teacher who has taught in Mapuche communities for 15 years, mostly in the Budi territory. An actor in a movement to regain control of Mapuche education, he has worked since 2007 at a reclaimed Mapuche primary school in Llaguepulli, where he lives with his wife Silvia and children Julio, Kajfv, and Ayen Alhe. He is part of the territory's communication team.

Notes

1. [Ariella] Leclair and Warren (2007) introduced me to the possibility of maintaining multiple voices in academic writing.

2. Gumucio Dagron replaces the notion of “beneficiaries”, with its aura of charity for the passive and powerless, with the concept of “partners in development” (2006, 597).

3. The lof is a manner of administering, understanding, and interpreting Mapuche territorial space. In general, a lof is inhabited by a family line (lofche) and is delimited by natural barriers (e.g. rivers).

4. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation cites studies indicating that information communicated through visual media stays longer in people's minds, and is more likely to influence action, than the same information communicated by any other means (2010, 9).

5. The Mapuche School of Filmmaking and Communication is the result of collaboration between Mapuche communities and organisations (Lafken Ñy Zugvn, Malalhue and Jagepvjv lof, and Mapuche TV) and Canadian organisations (Wapikoni Mobile and Strategic Video Initiative). At the time of writing, a total of 26 youth from the aylla rewe Budi have participated during four filmmaking workshops. Their films can be viewed at youtube.com/user/escuelacinemapuche

6. Traditional authorities are individuals who hold political, cultural, or spiritual responsibilities in Mapuche society and who are considered guides or experts in their area.

Additional information

Funding

[Ariella] Research and fieldwork leading to this article were supported in large part by a research award from Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC).