by Thor Edmundo Morales
At the onset of this decade, members of three ethnic groups gathered in the state of Sonora, northwestern Mexico. Seri (Comcaac), Rarámuri, and Yaqui participants went to the Yaqui village of Vicam to get their first exposure to participatory video (PV), with training provided by the UK-based organization InsightShare. Three facilitators, 16 participants, five different languages, and 12 days of intensive intercultural exchange around cameras, culture, and Indigenous voices on climate change. It was a success. Everyone loved the participatory approach and enjoyed using cameras, had fun filming, and learned what it feels like to be filmed. Communities got involved in the process through night-time screenings and word-of-mouth communication. The power of video was unveiled and participants’ creativity unleashed. This is how Pintando La Raya was born, although at that stage I didn’t even imagine the outcomes and surprises this PV journey would yield. My expectations have been far exceeded.
José Ramón Torres interviews a local dweller about climate change, fisheries, and hunting. Photo: Thor Morales, 2010.
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Eusebia Flores (L) and Romelia Barnett practice filming during the early stages of the Participatory Video (PV) adventure. Photo: Thor Morales, 2012
After this first gathering, the newly formed PV teams started to produce their own documentary films, mostly based on biocultural knowledge, with an emphasis on foodways and nature conservation. Every film required several screenings in order to be finished and approved by the community. Video acted as a “third party” in the relationship between filmmakers and community. It opened the door to a new form of communication within villages. Through interviews with neglected and forgotten cultural groups and persons such as elders, youngsters, and women, PV allowed for their voices to be heard. People regained confidence and exerted their prerogative to speak their minds and share ideas on issues they felt needed to be visualized and, above all, changed. Speaking on camera allowed everyone to find a way to express themselves and overcome discrimination, fear, or shyness. Soon, PV filmmakers noticed that everyone was interested in this new form of communication (and in their films). Communities took pride in their participation in endogenously produced movies. They no longer needed to depend on foreign media to speak for them. PV provided the key to true and real, culturally relevant, freedom of expression.
Rarámuri women watch indigenous films during a community screening in Sojahuachi, Rarámuri territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2013.
José Luis Bajeca, Samuel Cupis, and Eusebia Flores get a laugh while reviewing their footage during their training to become facilitators. Photo: Thor Morales, 2014.
Romelia Barnett (R) and Anabela Carlon with Soledad Muñiz (InsightShare Senior facilitator) during a training workshop in Loma de Bacum, Yaqui Territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
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Participants working on a storyboard as part of the PV facilitator training. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
Both Seri and Yaqui, in particular, became aware of video’s potential for community building, problem solving, biocultural documentation, and engagement of marginalized groups. Then in 2015 they decided that making PV films for these purposes was not enough. While they were enjoying it and were getting results within their communities, the seasoned Yaqui and Seri filmmakers were ready to go further. This gift had to be shared with other communities within and outside their ethnic groups. Commitment, solidarity, and recognition of shared issues affecting indigenous peoples sparked a new ideal: becoming PV facilitators, with an aim to disseminate PV to all indigenous communities in northwestern Mexico (just as a starting point!). The use of cameras, they felt, should have a social impact. Video, they realized, has the power to confront issues affecting what matters most to Native peoples: territory — a simple word that embraces culture, nature, history, dignity, land, food, dreams, landscapes, mindsets. It’s home, often sacred and venerated.
Based on this idea of territory, Pintando la Raya was born. This is a Mexican-Spanish expression meaning “stay off” (literally “drawing the line”). It is a metaphorical warning to outsiders seeking to illegally and aggressively take over indigenous lands and resources and exploit culture and nature without giving any benefits back to Native peoples.
Valentina Barnett (right) has fun while teaching her older sisters (Susana and Mina) the art of PV. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
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Valentina Barnett & Imelda Morales record the sunset during a PV training in the community of El Desemboque, Seri Territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
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Seri participants film sound effects at Punta Chueca, Seri Territory, for their film on language loss. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
The intent of Pintando La Raya is not to separate the indigenous from the non-indigenous. It is a community-based initiative that seeks to empower rural communities and bridge the gap between Native peoples and urban centers, regionally, nationally, and worldwide. Local problems need solidarity from outsiders. Indigenous peoples need to form networks of support and resistance to face challenges that threaten their territories. Native communities need to be able to speak for themselves, portray and share their stories in a way that is genuine and reflects local points of view. The overall goal is to train an “army” of PV filmmakers, using the tool of video according to the community’s concerns and desires. The advantage of video is that it emulates the traditional oral way of passing on knowledge as well as the experiential learning process common in most indigenous communities. It is a modern tool that can be implemented to revitalize ancient cultural ways. The participatory approach ensures video is equally accessible and all voices have their say.
Seri and Yaqui participants during an editing session. This is what PV editing looks like: many heads, many hands, many points of view mingling to create one film. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
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Community screening of the first video produced through a training conducted by indigenous facilitators. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
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The author with indigenous facilitators and trainees at the outskirts of the Sierra Madre, Guarijío Territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
First steps have been taken. As of this writing, PV filmmakers from the Guarijío and Yoreme indigenous communities have received training from mixed teams of Yaqui and Seri delivered the trainings. At least four communities in Sonora can now use video to support their struggles and share their ideas, messages, and issues with other Native peoples and a wider audience, in addition to documenting their own traditions, strengthening their language, and creating media in a culturally appropriate manner.
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Valentina García is trained in tripod and camera use during her first approach to PV. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
Many people have been involved in this process, but current members of Pintando La Raya include: Anabela Carlon, Eusebia Flores, Valentina García, and Samuel Cupis from the Yaqui tribe, and Romelia Barnett, Valentina Barnett, Samuel Romero, and Jose Ramón Torres from the Seri tribe. They believe indigenous-to-indigenous PV training allows for immediate trust and solidarity between fellow Native peoples. Their initiative builds on their 4-year experience as PV practitioners and the training delivered by InsightShare, through which they have become PV facilitators. Their story is one full of commitment, responsibility, compassion, hard work, fun, delight, and laughter. The main pillars of this project are: community cinema and screenings, to share powerful and inspiring Native peoples’ stories from all over the world; PV trainings, to create a marabunta (a word that refers to nomadic ants that gather in high numbers, often in the millions) of PV filmmakers; documentary filmmaking, to express their own ideas and address issues that affect biocultural continuity and territorial sovereignty.
Coastal landscape of the Seri territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2014
Pintando La Raya is an initiative created by Native Mexicans for Native Mexicans. Yet, it will surely lead the way for other marginalized groups to use PV as a powerful tool to protect nature, culture, dignity, and human rights in general. The Yaqui and Seri are pioneering a trail that will take them to unimagined places, literally and metaphorically.
Romelia Barnett sharing footage with Guarijío children during a PV training. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
Wilderness landscape surrounding the Guarijío community near San Bernardo, Sonora, Mexico. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
Back to Vol. 5, Issue 1 | Read the Table of Contents | Like Our Stories? Please Donate!
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Thor Morales is a tireless traveler and photographer committed to biocultural conservation. During the last 4 years, he has used media to unleash his passion for telling stories that contribute to a more diverse world. He facilitates participatory video workshops with indigenous communities, so that more stories are told independently and locally.
Read more from Thor Morales:
- Visions from Within | Another Shot for Biocultural Conservation in the Cradle of Humankind
- La Marabunta in Brazil: Indigenous Women as Biocultural Diversity Defenders.
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Further Reading / Viewing
Goodsmith, L., & Acosta, A. (2011). Community Video for Social Change: A Toolkit. Minneapolis, MN: American Refugee Committee International.
La Marabunta Filmadora. (2015). [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/LaMarabuntaFilmadora
Lunch, N., & Lunch, C. (2006). Insights into Participatory Video, a handbook for the field. InsightShare. Retrieved from https://insightshare.org/resources/insights-into-participatory-video-a-handbook-for-the-field/
Muniz, S. (2012). Participatory development communication (PDC): rhetoric or reality? The analysis of community-based level interventions in Latin America and Africa with dialogue and empowerment as intended outcomes (MSc Dissertation). University of Reading, London, UK.
