Poem about Participatory Video in Kenya
January 14th, 2008Kole Ade Odutola from the University of Florida sent us this very heartfelt poem about participatory video called “Participatory Use of Video in Verse: A Prodigal Child”. I’ve actually never seen a poem about participatory video, so I was excited to include this in a blog!
Participatory use of video in verse: A prodigal child?
I will arise
and go to the people
I will say on to them
here is a video camera,
which can be used like a pencil
write your story in images with the aid
of a few mind visualization techniques.
Let us together re-enter your past by
representing your life in the present
On the third day after our meeting
The story of the street will no more be fleeting
neither will the street of stories strange to our feet
Our objective is to lift
the minds of our participants not with planks
or pranks children play but with role plays
that probe deep into their lives.
The transect walk will show us where
and how they live
Without leaving any aspect untouched.
Just before the cross from the old to the new
A show-back as feedback will be arranged
With the video camera at the back of the hall;
recording both the images on screen and
the reactions of those around.
Stuart Hall may be absent but his
theories can be heard so loud.
Just before it is done
The question like a dark night will pop
“where do you want this message taken”
“Who do you want as audience?”
Now that a part of the real is encoded,
it is now in reel-form.
It needs to be decoded with the context
of its production.
It has become a text that can be read, analyzed
and interpreted on the path to action.
This is not an extractive academic exercise
but a performative, life transforming engagement
meant to bring a little change.
I will arise
and go back to the editing room
with voices of the poor
and poor images shot with hand-held
video cameras without tri-pods.
At the table, fingers would say to the buttons
wipe out ambiguity but ensure
the poverty on the streets is preserved
as a re-presentation of the lives of the participants
whose lives the video camera facilitated
their transformation by creating a forum
for introspection and reflection.
Once the funders are fed
with images and sounds of the unfed,
this project must return to the
home of the street children
who are still waiting for answers
that brought new questions
about the role of technology
in community story construction.
© Kole Ade Odutola
University of Florida
