| Summary: | Thesis (DPhil (Drama))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. === The purpose of this study is to examine critically the phenomenon of participatory
video and to situate within this the participatory video project that was initiated as
part 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 to
many different types of video products and processes. For the preliminary purposes
of this dissertation, participatory video is defined as any video (or film) process
dedicated to achieving change through which the subject(s) has been an integral
part of the planning and/or production, as well as a primary end-user or target
audience. The two key elements that distinguish participatory video are thus (1)
understanding video (or film) as a tool for social change; and (2) understanding
participation by the subject as integral to the video process.
An historical analysis thus considers various filmmaking developments that fed into
the emergence of participatory video. These include various film practices that used
film as a tool for change -- from soviet agitprop through to the documentary
movement of the 1930s, as well as various types of filmmaking in the 1960s that
opened up questions of participation. The Fogo process, developed in the late
1960s, marked the start of participatory video and video advocacy and provided
guiding principles for the Kayamandi project initiated as part of this dissertation.
Practitioners of the Fogo process helped initiate participatory video practice in South
Africa when they brought the process to South African anti-apartheid activists in the
early 1970s. The Kayamandi Participatory Video Project draws on this background
and context in its planned methodology and its implementation. Out of this, various
theoretical issues arising from participatory video practice contextualise a reflection
and an analysis of the Kayamandi project. Lastly, this study draws conclusions and
recommendations on participatory video practice in South Africa.
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