As my classes have come to an end and my
essays for them are wrapping up, I have finally made my decision with regard to
my thesis. I had been previously struggling in my attempts to find a topic that
really meant something to me. During a conversation with my father in a moment
of panic, he wisely advised me to chill out. He said that my idea would come to
me. I righteously explained to him that these things don’t just come to you but
you have to go and find them. How wrong I was! That very night in bed, it all
became so obvious and indeed it did come to me. I would go to the place I had returned
to in my mind time and time again – Fogo.
Since then, I have been watching the
Challenge for Change films, a project by the National Film Board of Canada in
collaboration with Memorial University of Newfoundland. The collection of films
was made in 1967 with the hopes of facilitating “interpersonal, intervillage and island to
mainland dialogue”. The idea was to get the residents
of Fogo Island to articulate the problems of their own community as they saw
fit. Once completed, the films would be played back to them with the hopes of
instilling confidence within its participants and viewers, in their own ability
to mobilize social change.
All of the videos can be viewed for free on
the National Film Board’s website. Click here to watch the introduction.
Of course, more to come!
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