What is alternative media?
Concepts
- Political Subject
- Radical Citizenship
- Radical Democracy
- Citizen's media
"It was the first time that the community had the chance to look at itself on television, and this first encounter with a mediated image of itself had profound effect on each of its member. (...) I was witnessing a community looking at itself and in the process, transforming its self-image" - Clemencia Rodriguez
wapikoni mobile
*History*
- Non-profit organization based in Montreal who provides mobile film production studios to Indigenous youth
- Founded in 2004
- 900 short films involving more than 4000 youth amongst 47 communities across Canada and South America
** How It Works**
- Mobility
- Mentors
- Collaboration with local resources
***Equipment***
****Mission & Impact****
- Training and mentorship
- Job and educational opportunities creation
- Countering suicide, drop-outs and addiction
- Raising awareness
Wapikoni mobile's goal isn't to transform its participant into filmmakers, but to give them back faith in their own abilities. It's difficult to measure the impact that participating a creative project can have on someone, which explains why objectives depend on individuals. (...) It might be to be more active in your community, to find a job, to go back to school. But for many others, it's to give them back the taste for life. - Miruna Craciunecu
2:52
Other concepts
Counter Memory: Narratives of history that runs counter to 'official' accounts; "revisiting and relearning suppressed or excluded beliefs" (see Hladki 2014)
Transnation: the formation of transnational (ethnic) communities made possible by the use of technology, often associated with a resistance to assimilation (see Karim 2012)
Liminoid Medium: A medium developing parallel to mainstream media incorporating alternative discourses and criticisms of mainstream media (see Payne 2012)
Re-territorialization: The reclaiming of historically colonized space within a collective memory (see Hladki 2012)
Sources & Suggested Readings
Alia, Valerie. (2009). Outlaws and Citizens: Indigenous People and the 'New Media Nation'. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 5(1-2), 29-54.
Barbeau, Manon. Wapikoni Mobile (2015) 34:2 Revue droits et libertés.
Bélair-Cirino, Marco. "Le Wapikoni Mobile, Fleuron du Canada." Le Devoir, 11 October 2011
Craciunecu, Miruna. " La sous-représentativité des artistes issus-es des communautés culturelles dans les médias québécois " (2016) (In)visibilités médiatiques, Revue l’Esprit libre.
Hladki, Janice. "Remembering Otherwise": Counter-Commemoration and Re-Territorialization in Indigenous Film and Video Art."Revista de Estudios Globales & Arte Contemporaneo, 2(2), 77-100.
People’s charter of communication
Karim, H. Karim. "Is Ethnic Media Alternative?" In K. Kozolanka, P. Mazepa & D. Skinner (Eds.), 2012, Alternative Media in Canada (pp. 165-183).
Kidd, Dorothy. "The Value of Alternative Media." Peace Review 11, no. 1 (1999): 113-19.
Payne, Jenny Gunnarsson. (2012). "Moving Images, Transforming Media: The Mediating Communitas of Hallon TV and DYKE Hard". International Journal of Cultural Studies, 16(4), 367-382.
Rodriguez, Clemencia. (2001). “From Alternative Media to Citizen’s Media” in Fissures in the Mediascape. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2001), pp. 1–23.