INTRODUCTION

“The number of production centres for indigenous video is currently on the rise around the globe.” Many of them are being “conceived in terms of the need for social inclusion without the loss of cultural specificity” (Flores 1998:306). This inclusion is imperative in both the academic agenda and in that of Latin America’s “organisationd indigenous peoples”. This second group can no longer be seen as mere “passive victims” of economic and political systems, as they are active agents in society and are seeking new forms of integration and re-integration into their respective nation states and the world.

This project is a collaborative one involving research, training and networking emerging from the convergence of two debates: one related to “indigenous media” (e.g., Flores 1998; Flores et al. 2000; Ginsburg 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003; Köhler and Trench 2004; Leyva and Köhler forthcoming; Leuthold 1998, 1999; Pack 2000; Turner 1991, 1992) and another related to “shared visual anthropology” (e.g., Flores forthcoming; Köhler 2002, 2004a and b; Rouch 2003:46; Ruby 1990, 1996; Spitulnik 1993). Both debates coincide with the need to break with (post)colonial concepts of the “representation of the Other.” The first promotes the “Other’s” control of his or her own representation, whilst the second favours participation and, in practice, seeks collaboration with the “Other” at varying levels.

This project is undoubtedly part of a research tradition, which, from the seventies onwards, saw academics become increasingly concerned with finding points of contact between their own research interests and the “need for education, self determination and cultural resistance” on the part of indigenous communities (Flores 1998:299). And, as some colleagues have pointed out, we firmly believe in the empowerment of indigenous communities through the use of communication media in general, and video especially, as a means of cultural resistance and as a powerful tool for the negotiation of power within a global political system (Flores 1998:307; Ginsburg 1991, 1997).
The goal of our project has been to encourage a collaborative and de-colonisationd anthropology, which permits a more horizontal cultural dialogue and interaction than generally occurs in our discipline. We have worked to provide indigenous peoples, organisations and communities in Chiapas and southern Mexico with better access to technical and human resources in order to allow them to realisation their goals, and encouraged the training of “multipliers” or “popular video-makers” able to promote a new cultural politics.

At the same time, the project has permitted academics to discuss their work agendas with the indigenous people involved in the project and vice-versa, in order to reach a common agenda based on shared responsibilities and mutual respect. We hope that this shared agenda will favour intercultural, multiethnic and democratic communication.

The project began in 2000 with a visual anthropology course, specializing in indigenous rights, in which 21 indigenous students received technical training. The course also included lectures to university students as well as members of NGOs and academic and cultural institutions. Throughout the five years of the project’s existence, we have organisationd courses and seminars for indigenous video-makers, based on their specific needs and exploring technical, artistic and ethical issues in a collaborative fashion. The majority of students have been young indigenous men and women who are members of social and cultural organisations based in The Highlands, the Lacandon Forest and the valleys around Comitán de Domínguez.

In this booklet we offer the reader a few elements to better understand this project: the names of our students as well as some research scholars and artistic consultants, the titles of our productions, screening locations, awards granted, organisations we have collaborated with and institutions that have given us their support. We are aware that this is not really enough information to understand our work over the last five years, so we have made a selection of the videos produced and put it on three videocassettes entitled "Special Edition I, II y III" respectively. They contain a total of 12 works allowing the viewer to become familiar with our productions. These videos undoubtedly transcend the debate on “indigenous video”.

By “indigenous video” one might think we are referring to video entirely produced by indigenous people including the definition of the subject matter, the writing of a script, the camera work, editing, postproduction and the final distribution of the material. This is, however, a highly polemic issue (see Spitulnik 1993:303-304) and what is clear to us at the end of this first phase of work, is that our productions are “hybrid” and demonstrate, above all, the kind of intercultural dialogues occurring within a multicultural and multiethnic Chiapas. But let’s allow the selected videos to speak for themselves, and we invite you to let your anthropological, artistic or simply human imaginations fly…

Xochitl Leyva and Axel Köhler
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
December 2004.