Marian Reid







Visibility and cultural voice in Fataluku country Timor-Leste

This study explores the intersection of digital visual communication and traditional culture in the Fataluku community of Lautem, Timor-Leste. Focusing on the Fataluku Research Project as a case study, this paper investigates the effect that community-driven cultural documentation has on the value, perception and visibility of culture by the community, and makes a conceptual link between increased cultural visibility and its potential to contribute to social cohesion in the context of Timor-Leste. This paper highlights how being on camera through a collaborative process can create spaces of dialogue, open channels of cultural expression and reinforce identity for Fataluku people. This paper also explores digital visual communication as a framework that can be applied to other ethnic communities in Timor-Leste and more broadly.

Keywords: digital visual communication, Fataluku, identity, intangible culture, participatory research, Timor-Leste, visibility


References

  1. Arnott, K. (2012) East Timor's secret stories unlocked on stage, ABC News, October. Available online from www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-05/an-east-timor27s-secret-stories-unlocked-on-stage/4297120, accessed on 15 April 2015
  2. Batterbury, S. (2006) Final reflection, Palmer, L., Niner, S. and Kent, L. (eds) Exploring the tensions of nation building in Timor-Leste - Proceedings of a forum, Melbourne, School of Social and Environmental Enquiry, University of Melbourne p. 15
  3. Bradden, S. (1999) Using video for research and representation: Basic human needs and critical pedagogy, Journal of Educational Media, Vol. 24, No. 2 pp 117-129
  4. Brandao, C. E. (2011) Culture and its impact on social and community life: A case study of Timor-Leste, EWER Policy Brief No. 5, Belun and Centre for International Conflict Resolution
  5. Brown, A. M. (2013) Addressing legitimacy issues in fragile post-conflict situations to advance conflict transformation and peacebuilding: Timor-Leste report supported by the Berghof Foundation, Germany, Berghof Foundation
  6. Browne, D. R. (2005) Ethnic minorities, electronic media and the public sphere: A comparative study, Cresskill, NJ Hampton
  7. Clandinin, J. and Connelly, M. (1998) Personal experience methods, Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (eds) Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials, Thousand Oaks, Sage pp 150-178
  8. Couldry, N. (2010) Why voice matters: Culture and politics after neoliberalism, London, Sage
  9. De Carvalho, D. (2011) Local knowledge of Timor-Leste, UNESCO Jakarta. Available online at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002145/214540E.pdf, accessed on 15 April 2015
  10. ETWA (2015) East Timor Women's Association, Available online at www.etwa.org.au, accessed on 20 April 2015
  11. Evans, M. and Foster, S. (2009) Representation in participatory video: Some considerations from research with Metis in British Colombia, Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études Canadiennes, Vol. 43, No. 1, Winter pp 87-108
  12. Flores C. Y. (2004) Indigenous video, development, and shared anthropology: A collaborative experience with Maya Q'eqchi' filmmakers in post-war Guatemala, Visual Anthropology Review Vol. 20, No. 1 pp 31-44
  13. Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed, New York, Herder and Herder
  14. Gadihoke, S. (2003) The struggle to 'empower': A women behind the camera, White, S. (ed.) Participatory video: Images that transform and empower, New Delhi, Sage pp 271-285
  15. Ginsburg, F. (2002) Mediating culture: Indigenous media, ethnographic film and the production of identity, Askew, K. and Wilk, R. R. (eds) The anthropology of media: A reader, Malden: Blackwell pp 187-209
  16. Grenfell, D., Walsh, M., Trembath, A., Norohona, C. and Holthouse, K. (2009) Understanding community: Security and sustainability in four Aldeia in Timor-Leste, the Globalism Research Institute, Melbourne, RMIT
  17. High, C., Singh, N., Petheram, L. and Nemes, G. (2012) Defining participatory video from practice, Milne, E. J., Mitchell, C. and de Lange, N. (eds) Handbook of participatory video, Lanham, Altamira Press pp 35-48
  18. Horta, L. (2013) Timor-Leste: A fragile peace, International Relations and Security Network, ISN Zurich, 7 August. Available online at www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Articles/Detail/?id=167662, accessed on 15 April 2015
  19. Lambert, J. (2013) Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community, New York, Routledge, fourth edition
  20. Lambert, J. (2015) Centre for Digital Storytelling, Available online at www.storycenter.org, accessed on 19 October 2015
  21. Low, B., Brushwood, C., Salvio, P. and Palacios, L. (2012) Reframing the scholarship on participatory video: From celebration to critical engagement, Milne, E. J., Mitchell, C. and de Lange, N. (eds.) Handbook of participatory video, Lanham, Altamira Press pp 49-65
  22. McWilliam, A. (2011) Fataluku Forest Tenures and the Conis Santana National Park in East Timor, Land and life in Timor-Leste: Ethnographic essays, McWilliam, A. and Traube, E. G., press.anu.edu. Available online at http://press.anu.edu.au/austronesians/sharing/pdf/ch11.pdf, accessed on 20 April 2015
  23. Miller, E. and Smith, M. (2012) Dissemination and ownership of knowledge, Milne, E. J., Mitchell, C. and de Lange, N. (eds) Handbook of participatory video, Lanham, Altamira Press pp 331-348
  24. Mistry, J. and Berardi, A. (2012) The challenges and opportunities of participatory video in geographical research: Exploring collaboration with Indigenous communities in the North Rupununi, Guyana, AREA, Vol. 44, No. 1 pp 110-116
  25. Moxham, B. (2005) The World Bank's land of kiosks: Community driven development in Timor-Leste, Development in Practice, Vol. 15. Nos 3/4 pp 522-528
  26. Mulka (2015) The Mulka Project. Available online at http://yirrkala.com/the-mulka-project, accessed on 30 July 2015
  27. Niner, S. (2007) A reassertion of customary practices in Timor-Leste, Palmer, L., Niner, S. and Kent, L. (eds) Exploring the tensions of nation building in Timor-Leste, Melbourne, University of Melbourne pp 10 and 41-46
  28. O'Conner, S., Pannell, S. and Brockwell, S. (2013) The dynamics of culture and nature in a 'protected' Fataluku landscape, Brockwell, S., O'Conner, S. and Byrne, D. (eds) Transcending the culture - Nature divide in cultural heritage: Views from the Asia-Pacific Region, Terra Australis, Canberra, ANU Press pp 203-234
  29. Parkinson, C. (2010) Peace of wall: Street art from East Timor, South Melbourne, Affirm Press
  30. Paulson, S. and Calla, P. (2000) Gender and ethnicity in Bolivian politics: Transformation or paternalism?, Journal of Latin American Anthropology, Vol. 5, No. 2 pp 112-149
  31. Photovoices (2015) Photovoices International: Empowering people through photography. Available online at www.photovoicesinternational.org/index.html, accessed on 17 April 2015
  32. Pietikainen, S. (2008) To breathe two airs: Empowering indigenous Sami media, Wilson, P. and Stewart, M. (eds) Global indigenous media: cultures, poetics and politics, Durham, NC, Duke University Press pp 197-213
  33. Pink, S. (2001) More visualising, more methodologies: On video, reflexivity and qualitative research, Sociological Review, Vol. 48, No. 4 pp 586-599
  34. Pink, S. (2007) Video in ethnographic research, Pink, S. (ed.) Doing visual ethnography, London, Sage, second edition pp 96-117
  35. Radio National (2014) East Timor's first feature film, Drive, 14 July
  36. Ramella, M. and Olmos, G. (2005) Participant authored audiovisual stories (PAAS): Giving the camera away or giving the camera a way?, 10 Qualitative Series, London, LSE
  37. Reitmaier, T., Bidwell, N. J. and Marsden, G. (2011) Situating digital storytelling within African communities, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Vol. 69, No. 10 pp 658-668
  38. Robbins, C. (2010) Beyond preservation: New directions for technological innovation through intangible cultural heritage, USA International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), Vol. 6, No. 2 pp 115-118
  39. Rodriguez, C. (2001) Fissures in the mediascape: An international study of citizen's media. Catskill, NJ, Hampton Press
  40. Schein, L (2000) Minority rules: Miao and the feminine in China's cultural politics, Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press
  41. Smith, L. (2008) The search for well-being: Placing development with indigenous identity, Wilson, P. and Stewart, M. (eds) Global indigenous media: Cultures, poetics and politics, Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press pp 183-196
  42. Snyder, G. (1996) A place in space: Ethics, aesthetics and watersheds, Washington DC, Counterpoint Press
  43. Tekee (2015) The Audio Visual Archive and Cultural Centre, Tekee Media. Available online at http://tekeemedia.com/camstl/, accessed on 30 July 2015
  44. UNDP (2015) United Nations Development Programme in Timor-Leste. Available online at www.tl.undp.org/content/timor_leste/en/home/ourwork/overview.html, accessed on 25 October 2015
  45. UNESCO (2015) Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Available online at www.unesco.org/culture/ich/?lg=en&pg=0006, accessed on 11 April 2015
  46. Valentim, J. and Pereira, N. (2013) Cultural assets-based community development in Timor-Leste, Lospalos, Many Hands International
  47. Wheeler, J. (2009) The life that we don't want: Using participatory video in researching violence, IDS Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 1 pp 10-18
  48. Yang, K. (2012) Reflexivity, participation and video, Milne, E. J., Mitchell, C. and de Lange, N. (eds) Handbook of participatory video, Lanham, Altamira Press pp 100-114
  49. Young, J. (2010) Digital storytelling: Preserving a cultural tradition, Education Canada, Vol. 50, No. 1 pp 22-25
  50. Zoetti, P. A. (2013) Images of culture: Participatory video, identity and empowerment, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2 pp 209-224

Note on the contributor

Marian Reid is a Melbourne-based communications specialist and storyteller with a Master's in Communication for Social Change from the University of Queensland’s Centre for Communication for Social Change. She works with non-government organisations and communities around the world to help tell important stories.