Understanding film and video as tools for change : applying participatory video and video advocacy in South Africa

[摘要] The purpose of this study is to examine critically the phenomenon of participatoryvideo and to situate within this the participatory video project that was initiated aspart of this study in the informal settlement area of Kayamandi, South Africa. The overall objective of the dissertation is to consider the potential of participatory video within current-day South Africa towards enabling marginalised groups to represent themselves and achieve social change.As will be shown, the term 'participatory video' has been used broadly and applied tomany different types of video products and processes. For the preliminary purposesof this dissertation, participatory video is defined as any video (or film) processdedicated to achieving change through which the subject(s) has been an integralpart of the planning and/or production, as well as a primary end-user or targetaudience. The two key elements that distinguish participatory video are thus (1)understanding video (or film) as a tool for social change; and (2) understandingparticipation by the subject as integral to the video process.An historical analysis thus considers various filmmaking developments that fed intothe emergence of participatory video. These include various film practices that usedfilm as a tool for change -- from soviet agitprop through to the documentarymovement of the 1930s, as well as various types of filmmaking in the 1960s thatopened up questions of participation. The Fogo process, developed in the late1960s, marked the start of participatory video and video advocacy and providedguiding principles for the Kayamandi project initiated as part of this dissertation.Practitioners of the Fogo process helped initiate participatory video practice in SouthAfrica when they brought the process to South African anti-apartheid activists in theearly 1970s. The Kayamandi Participatory Video Project draws on this backgroundand context in its planned methodology and its implementation. Out of this, varioustheoretical issues arising from participatory video practice contextualise a reflectionand an analysis of the Kayamandi project. Lastly, this study draws conclusions andrecommendations on participatory video practice in South Africa.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University