The Postgraduate Networking Project

Alessandra Caporale Department of Design and Media Art (DAMA) Napier University Nationality: Italian Funded Full-Time Registration: September 1998 Transfer to PhD: March 2000 Completion: June 2003 Director of Studies: Prof. Desmond Bell Second Supervisor: Dr.Louise Milne The aim of the PhD Experiment with ethnographic methods to investigate community media practice in the Italian social movement of the 'Centri Sociali Occupati e Autogestiti' (Occupied and Self-managed Social Centres) as a historically and politically situated cultural practice. I focused on video activism as part of a process of appropiation of a range of media and its role in the construction of this oppositional movement´s identity. Experience in stages towards the PhD Initial proposal With my initial proposal I expressed my interest in Italian social movements with a focus on history and memory through the study of a set of social practices that I considered in terms of autodocumentation. Research design and literary review Subsequently I started a literary review of a number of relevant fields to design the theoretical framework for my study. My starting point was to define a set of methodologies and theoretical lines of investigation drawing on the discipline of Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic film. I then felt the need to build an interdisciplinary framework by expanding on other disciplines such as Anthropology of Cinema, Community Media, Oral History and Cultural Studies. Exploratory fieldwork At a later stage, I spent some time of fieldwork (few months between June and September 1999) in Rome where I familiarized myself with the latest changes at the level of cultural practices. I explored from an holistic perspective the interrelations among different practices, from radio to net art, photography, performance, digital networks and video. To this aim I conducted informal interviews with participants in such activities, I visited the spaces of discussion, productions and 'consumption' of such cultural practices. Parallel to this I read self-produced literature elaborated by the movement participants and wrote my fieldwork notes and elaborated a few pages in the form of diary and used them as base of discussion with selected 'informants' or 'key subjects'. Re-drafting of proposal As the outcome of such process I redefined my focus and defined as 'a set of cultural practices intended as forms of autorepresentation in the Social Centre Movement as part of the wider network of organizations and movements of the Italian radical Left'. I identified my object of study as 'autodocumentary practices', in particular video practice. MPhil transfer The following step has been to prepare a first draft of the Introduction, a theory and methods chapter (ch.1) and a Timetable for the Mphil transfer. This process involved a discussion with my director of study and supervisor. Fieldwork In June 2000 I head off to Rome where I spent seven month of fieldwork. I starting by collecting a hundred of self-produced (autoprodotti) videos, mainly documentaries made by the participants, classify and analyze them in terms of genres, occasion and process of production. I choosed one Social Centre as the site of my research and ethnographic film practice. I use the video camera as a tool of observing and interpreting some events related to the production and dissemination of video practice in the symbolic space of the Social Centre. I realized in-depth interviews with two video collectives (Fluid Video Crew and Candida) which participated in the work of shaping a certain visual sensibility and style associated with Social Centres self-production (autoproduzione). Writing up Coming back I ordered my fielwork notes and prepared the chapter related to the fieldwork practice (ch.3). I then started to work on the historical chapter (ch.2), to translate the interviews, and to view my film rushes. Then, I elaborated a narrative strategy to create an interpretative thread and reviewed the theory and methods chapter (ch.1). Later, I wrote the fieldwork chapters (ch.4,5,6,7) weaving together my fieldwork notes, interviews and images from my video practice. Finally I wrote a new Introduction and selected some stills from my video practice. I did not complete the editing in time for presenting the work as part of my Phd. Later I edited the material in 4 separated thematic videos, one for each fieldwork chapter. Hand in of thesis first draft March 2003, I handed in five copies of my PhD thesis (to the two supervisors, the two external examiner and the director of the department) PhD discussion I discussed my thesis with two external examiners Marcus Banks (Visual Anthropology) and Chris Atton (Community Media), my two supervisors Desmond Bell (Ethnographic Film) and Louise Milne (Cultural Studies) and the director of Department Hew Davies (Documentary Cinema). Final Review I handed in the final copies in August 2003, once made the changes according to the examiners' observations, from demanding for more ethnographic details from my fieldwork notes to suggesting a more explicit reference of my work as a contribution to the field of Community Media.  Support I was assisted by two supervisors which were specialists in different areas with regular tutorials and review of my research and writing up progresses. Some seminars were organized in collaboration with other universities for PhD students to discuss their projects at different stages of their work. I was granted a position as postgraduate assistant which gave me economic support and the opportunity to gain experience in teaching and tutorial activities. I taught the following subjects: -Introduction to Visual Culture -Theory and Methods in Cultural Research -Contemporary Issues in Still and Moving Images -Documentary, the Realist Image I received a research grant to carry out my fieldwork and permitted a period of teaching leave. I was also supported by my PhD colleagues in many ways, from discussing relevant issues to exchanging literature, reading and commenting on my work, proofreading, etc.  Abstract of the Thesis: 'Video Activism in the Italian Centri Sociali. A Visual Ethnography' This thesis begins by assessing the impact of photography and film-making on ethnographic methodology and how these practices have encouraged the emergence of the current reflexive trend within anthropology. This 'reflexive turn' consisted in the recognition of the constructed and subjective nature of representation, whether written or visual. Drawing on the techniques of Visual Anthropology, I analyse the way in which film practice employed by the oppositional culture of the Italian Centri Sociali (CS) contributes to the construction of this movement's counter-cultural identity. To experiment with a methodology as close as possible to my object of study I used video technology as part of my fieldwork. I draw on the criticisms of Indigenous Media studies by scholars such as Michaels (1986), Chalfen (1992) and Weiner (1997) regarding the rhetoric of 'empowerment' (previously associated with the 'transfer' of media technologies to members of remote communities).  In the ´native ethnography´ reported here, I prioritise an analysis of the specific socio-cultural context in which media appropriation takes place. I focus on the ways in which the CS subculture adapts new media to the principles of autogestione (self-management) and autoproduzione (auto-production), thereby turning communication into a new arena of experimentation with 'horizontal' forms of political representation. In conclusion, I note some of the parallels and cross-fertilization between ethnographic film-practice and CS video activism. I show how both re-elaborate the critical knowledge and art practices of previous counter-cultural movements in their uses of visual media as tools of cultural critique. Click here to open/download a chapter of the thesis Publications and Papers (2005) Video Activism in the Italian Centri Sociali. A Visual Ethnography in Antropología de los Media (Ed. E. Ardevol Piera y J. Grau Rebollo), X Congress of Anthropology. El Monte Foundation, FAAEE, AsAnA. Seville (Forthcoming) 'Video Activism and Self-Representation in Italian Social Movements'. Confluencia: Revista Interdisciplinar de Sociología y Direito. Brasil. N.5 (Forthcoming) 'Video Live-set: The Collective Performance'. Confluencias: Revista Interdisciplinar de Sociología y Direito. Brasil. N.6 Current Job Lecturer in Qualitative Methods in Social Research and Social Anthropology in the PhD course 'Information and Knowledge Society' Director of MPhil thesis part of the postgraduate seminar on e-culture Areas of interest: Internet and Collective Creation and Visual Ethnography Collaboration with GIRCOM, (Interdisciplinary Group of Research into Virtual Communities), IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) Research issues: Cyberculture, Virtual Ethnography, Counter-Cultures and Collective Practices at the Open University of Catalunya (UOC), Barcelona, Spain Tutor, Supervising students' audiovisual projects in the Master Course 'Anthropology of Audiovisual Communication' University of Barcelona (UB), Spain Contact details Alessandra Caporale Metodologias Cualitativas de Investigation Social Antropologia Social Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC acaporale@uoc.edu