Whose impact is it? A decolonised approach in intercultural communication and creative methods in practice-based research

ABSTRACT

This project report focuses on the complexities, dynamics and impacts of intercultural communication, with the example of indigenous video productions by the Zhigoneshi Collective from the Arhuaco community in Colombia. A decade-long filmmaking journey undertaken by the collective targeted the violent political situation in the region and challenged some of the past films made about the community by external filmmakers. A collaborative self-reflective research film concludes the project; it explores the researcher’s positionality, inevitable power struggles, tensions around indigenous agency, intellectual ownership of the footage, politics of representation (who has the right to represent whom) and the importance of contexts of dissemination. More importantly, it explores the complex role of external filmmakers who must strike a balance between inevitable pre-assumptions, cultural stereotyping and their own privileged positionality.

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonised indigenous filmmaking
• politics of representation
• contexts of dissemination
• intercultural collaborations
• collaborative filmmaking

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Agata Lulkowska

Agata Lulkowska is an interdisciplinary art/practice-based researcher with a background in film, photography and multimedia arts. She is a co-founder and Director of the Communities & Communication - International Conference and Festival, Managing Editor at the International Journal of Creative Media Research, and a former Artistic Director and Head of Programming at the Discovering Latin America Film Festival. Her film, 'The voice of Sierra Nevada', was recently shortlisted for AHRC Research in Film Awards. Her most influential work focuses on intercultural communication through collaborative filmmaking among indigenous communities in Colombia. Her most current research focuses on re-contextualising practice-based research and developing a practical toolkit for researchers working in film and creative media. She is currently appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Film Production at the Staffordshire University. The project addressed in this article has been conducted during her PhD studies at Birkbeck, University of London.