Globalization and African cinema: Distribution and reception in the anglophone region

When Tommy Lott advanced his ‘no-theory theory’ on the definition of black cinema, he argued that a theory remains a theory only up to the time when the meanings it advances ‘are no longer applicable’. He was aware of the complexity of theorizing on an ongoing activity based on an essentialized notion. What I see as a possible arena of contention and re-theorizing is the versatility of cultures in appropriating processes of knowledge distribution. What I am advocating here is seeing the film and video distribution practices that continue to grow in Africa as loci of sociological and ontological questionings. Is the experience of media within cultures dependent on exposure to western media concepts? Isn't exposure itself merely a limited rather than a limiting experience? How far are ‘appropriations’ related to media sociality? How do community media express themselves outside the boundaries of expectations and definitions of authoritative media

Witness

Witness, co-written by award-winning Tanzanian-Australian filmmaker Martin Mhando and WA actor and writer David Moody, explores the law of probability as it plays out in bitter human conflicts, retelling stories of torture and atrocities from Chile to Cambodia in a constantly morphing, fractured form. As the play progresses, the men perform a collage of vignettes in which the roles of white, black, male, female, jailer, prisoner, aggressor and victim are endlessly exchanged. At one point Moody dons a curly black wig to play a comical Colonel Gaddafi; elsewhere both men perform a disturbing Auschwitz cabaret scene as “Hymie and Abe,” complete with Marx Brothers nose-and-glasse

Messages of hope: Using positive stories of survival to assist recovery in Rwanda

For the past twenty years, the overriding story of Rwanda has been centred around the events and consequences of the genocide. In Rwanda, public expressions of that story have occurred in the gacaca courts, where survivors and perpetrators testified about their experiences and actions, during ongoing annual remembrance and mourning commemorations, and in memorial sites across the country that act as physical reminders of the genocide. While important as mechanisms for justice, testimony, and commemoration, on their own such events and installations also have the potential to re-traumatise. Accordingly, Rwandan agencies have encouraged a focus on the future as the overarching theme of recent national commemorations. Yet, opportunities for Rwandans to recount and disseminate positive, future-oriented stories of survival and healing remain sparse. Creation and awareness of positive stories have the potential to assist in recovery by increasing feelings of hope and efficacy; and recent research has demonstrated the value of hopefulness, well-being, and social support for vulnerable people. The Messages of Hope program seeks to leverage those ideas into a framework for generating positive messages by Rwandan survivors, providing an opportunity for everyday Rwandans to record and transmit their own positive stories of survival to demonstrate recovery and growth after the genocide, and to reinforce connectedness by sharing their challenges and aspirations. We describe the development and early implementation of this initiative and its potential longer-term application in other contexts of vulnerability

Fairtrade Coffee A study to assess the impact of Fairtrade for coffee smallholders and producer organisations in Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Tanzania

This report presents the findings of a major evaluation commissioned by Fairtrade International. This evaluation aims to assess the impact of Fairtrade for coffee smallholders and their organisations to contribute to the evidence base on Fairtrade’s impact to date and to inform Fairtrade on the potential to improve its impact in the future. Millions of smallholder farmer households around the world rely upon coffee for their livelihoods, and the challenges they face are numerous and growing. Fairtrade supports around 812,500 coffee-producing smallholder farmers in 445 producer organisations in 30 countries. In 2013-14 Fairtrade coffee producers reported selling 150,800 MT of coffee on Fairtrade terms. Producer organisations (POs) in four countries, Peru, Mexico, Tanzania, and Indonesia, were selected as cases by the research team to capture the range and depth of the Fairtrade experience. The evaluation covered two Fairtrade producer organisations in each country. Counterfactual comparisons are included in each case – either with a comparison producer organisation or with individual independent farmers cultivating coffee in the same area, but who are not part of Fairtrade certification. The evaluation used the recently developed and published ‘Fairtrade International Theory of Change’ to examine Fairtrade impact. Data was collected along the impact chain to understand how far Fairtrade’s interventions have led to intended outputs and impacts, and to identify other influencing factors. The team developed a research protocol to support comparisons between countries, and used mixed methods to carry out the research

Empowering young people and strengthening resilience: Youth-centred participatory video as a tool for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction

Young people regularly face great hurdles to get their voices heard, while research and practice in the disaster and climate change community commonly represent young people as passive victims requiring protection. Consequently, their capacities to inform decision-making processes, communicate risks to their communities and take direct action to reduce risks have been neglected. This paper presents empirical data from participatory video (PV) methods with groups of young people in three communities in Eastern Samar, the Philippines. Producing these videos enabled groups to research, document and raise awareness of disaster risk, and use screening events to mobilise and advocate for risk reduction measures in their communities. The results suggest that the PV process was an effective tool for empowering young people to raise important issues with decision-makers and advocate change on behalf of their communities.15 page(s

Using detergent to enhance detection sensitivity of African trypanosomes in human CSF and blood by Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP)

<p><b>Background:</b> The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, with its advantages of simplicity, rapidity and cost effectiveness, has evolved as one of the most sensitive and specific methods for the detection of a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms including African trypanosomes. While many LAMP-based assays are sufficiently sensitive to detect DNA well below the amount present in a single parasite, the detection limit of the assay is restricted by the number of parasites present in the volume of sample assayed; i.e. 1 per µL or 103 per mL. We hypothesized that clinical sensitivities that mimic analytical limits based on parasite DNA could be approached or even obtained by simply adding detergent to the samples prior to LAMP assay.</p> <p><b>Methodology/Principal Findings:</b> For proof of principle we used two different LAMP assays capable of detecting 0.1 fg genomic DNA (0.001 parasite). The assay was tested on dilution series of intact bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood with or without the addition of the detergent Triton X-100 and 60 min incubation at ambient temperature. With human CSF and in the absence of detergent, the LAMP detection limit for live intact parasites using 1 µL of CSF as the source of template was at best 103 parasites/mL. Remarkably, detergent enhanced LAMP assay reaches sensitivity about 100 to 1000-fold lower; i.e. 10 to 1 parasite/mL. Similar detergent-mediated increases in LAMP assay analytical sensitivity were also found using DNA extracted from filter paper cards containing blood pretreated with detergent before card spotting or blood samples spotted on detergent pretreated cards.</p> <p><b>Conclusions/Significance:</b> This simple procedure for the enhanced detection of live African trypanosomes in biological fluids by LAMP paves the way for the adaptation of LAMP for the economical and sensitive diagnosis of other protozoan parasites and microorganisms that cause diseases that plague the developing world.</p&gt

Congenital anomalies in low- and middle-income countries: the unborn child of global surgery.

Surgically correctable congenital anomalies cause a substantial burden of global morbidity and mortality. These anomalies disproportionately affect children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to sociocultural, economic, and structural factors that limit the accessibility and quality of pediatric surgery. While data from LMICs are sparse, available evidence suggests that the true human and financial cost of congenital anomalies is grossly underestimated and that pediatric surgery is a cost-effective intervention with the potential to avert significant premature mortality and lifelong disability

Participatory video production: An ideal or wishful thinking

In 2003 participatory video productions were undertaken in Tanzania to support the work of the World Bank under the aegis of the Economic and Social Research Foundation in Tanzania (ESRF). These videos were intended to record and support the participatory research initiative that had been earlier undertaken in Tanzania (2001-2002) and therefore enhance the work of assessing poverty reduction in developing countries and Tanzania in particular. This paper and accompanied video (12 minutes) attempts to describe in some detail the issues involved in undertaking not only participatory research activities but participatory media production as well. It is in order to clarify this knowledge base, involving people in the process of analysing their problems that novel and uncommon methods such as the participatory videos are initiated. These videos intended to describe, involve and capture the environment and mood of the people as they describe their understanding of their vulnerability. The videos can also be viewed as advocacy tools for involving the wider community to pressurize and advocate for change. The videos aim to influence policy making, target action in support of specific issues faced by the communities, and finally transform power relations between the poor and their governing bodies. (Okahashi, 2000). This paper proposes to discuss the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches to the video production processes taking hold in African under the so-called participatory video production methods and question their conceptualisation, efficacy and ethics

Participatory video production in Tanzania: An ideal or wishful thinking

Documentary is a mode of communication that most people are familiar with and have strong held perceptions about. However recent attempts at adapting to conditions of story telling in diverse societies have triggered the use of novel approaches. Needless to say this is based on the assumed capability and capacity of documentaries to evoke truth and accurate representation of reality. Compared to fiction films, audiences, for whatever reason, watch documentaries with an anticipation of truthful representation. On the other hand documentaries also exist as forms of archiving of material belonging to another time suggesting a sense of history. This reality has more to do with the accurate representation of the location, social relations and views of the participants and not necessarily the "realities" of filmmaking. Indeed it is necessary that the production crew be aware of the possible disempowering situation that the asymmetrical knowledge, skills and experience conditions could present in a community production environment. Under such a method, the subject communities have a certain level of control in the film production process and are able to have some input into the production such that they are able to influence some representations in the documentary. According to Johansson et al. (1999, 2000), in participatory video it is the group of actors or film participants that create the narrative unlike in conventional documentary production methods where there is an emphasis and need to create an individual artist filmaker's narrative about some people or a topic. This method is indeed different from the five modes of documentary production acknowledged by Nichols since in participatory video, the power and control of the film has considerably shifted from the filmmaker to the participants (Nichols, 1994). Indeed Okahashi (2000) notes that participatory video helps people share stories as well as increase self-esteem and community connection. The process of participatory video itself is enriching, participants may feel that they have control over what is reported about them and as well as have some form of power to influence and harness the benefits of media. It is therefore important that we describe these processes and encourage others to reveal the processes by which they get to make documentaries so that the exchange of ideas and experiences might lead to the creation of new knowledge