Archive for March, 2009

The launch of the Antologia in Bogota took place on March 3, 2009 with the auspice of the University Javeriana, in the presence of the Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Language, Jürgen Horlbeck, the Director of Communication, Antonio Roveda, Professor Amparo Cadavid, as well as Alfonso Gumucio Dagron and three Colombian authors included in the Anthology, Jesus Martin Barbero, Sonia Fraser-Restrepo and José Miguel Pereira.

Jurgen Horlbeck called the Anthology “a mammothret” and did an interesting digression on the etymology of the word, indicating that in late Greek, and then in late Latin “mammothreptus” signifies “raised by the grandmother”, therefore a very well suckled and fed, and supposedly chubby and strong infant. He alluded to the monumental dimensions of the work, the effort and the fine care that was invested, as well as the time spent on it. He added that the book would have an important function in the university, exactly because it would “feed those who dare to consult it”.

According to Professor Cadavid, who intervened immediately after, the book is “a complete ’state of the art’ that covers practically all that has been produced in five continents” in the field of communication for the development, “with a level of refinement in the selection of contributions that are pertinent to enrich this field“. In her recount of authors, she mentioned that nine are Colombian: Jesus Martin Barbero and José Miguel Pereira reside in the country, though this is not the case for Clemencia Rodriguez, Arturo Escobar, Sonia Fraser-Restrepo, Carlos Cortés, Rafael Obregón and Pilar Riaño. The social scientist Orlando Fals Borda passed away before seeing published the work in Spanish.

Finally Jesus Martin Barbero, worldwide recognized Latin-American author, thanked Gumucio Dagron and Tufte “for having been capable of including so many voices and to weave them together. This book is a weaving of multiple voices, with an enormous presence and power of Latin American thinking, and this is key, really key from our countries towards the rest of the world“.

He added that “the book has two bets: the first one to think about the transformation of society and the second, to think it from the communication perspective not as a technique -which today is the obsession of the vast majority of communication faculties in Latin America, too attentive to the market who dictates brazenly how to educate communicators. For me and all those that have been fighting for this cause for almost 40 years, to find this global book, in the best sense of the word, which places in the centre social change and the weaving of the realities of which communication is made -much more than media-, is an enormous satisfaction“.

“As insinuated by Alfonso, there has been a pioneering thinking for a long time in Latin America, but the North continues looking at us from above. There is a precious expression by Appadurai: ‘They continue thinking of us as providers of raw materials for the north theoretical mills’“, he added.

“Justice is done now, I mean it with pride also because Thomas Tufte, (although being Danish, has spent much time in Brazil and other places of Latin America) identifies himself with the perspective from which we work in this region. And in this book what we find, really, is a bet for dialogue between the world and Latin America. It places Latin America in the world and allows the world -in the English version - to learn that here we don’t just produce raw materials so that the mills in the North can grind them; here we are not only native informers on the exotic forms of communication of Latin America; here we have as much thinking or more. However, it is a pity that this is not only problem of northern countries, but of the majority of communication faculties in Latin America; every time bibliographical research is done, save four or five of us that are rewarded, there is an enormous quantity of cheap bibliography of signatures with a lot of market in the north.“ 

 

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The ANTOLOGIA in Spanish has been recently launched in Colombia, this time in two main cities, Cali and Bogota, thanks to the invitation of Universidad Javeriana de Bogota and Universidad Javeriana de Cali, two main academic institutions in Colombia who jointly organized the events.

The first launching took place in Cali, vibrant city in the Southwest of Colombia, where Alfonso Gumucio Dagron was invited to participate in a number of activities around the presentation of the ANTOLOGIA: meetings with scholars and students, interviews, visits and exchanges with participatory communication projects. All activities were coordinated by two dynamic professors of the Universidad Javeriana de Cali, Fanny Franco and Mónica Marión, who have been instrumental in developing a communication for social change approach with their students.

On Thursday February 27th during a half day workshop for faculty of the Communication Department Alfonso Gumucio did a presentation on “Communicating for social change”, the roots and evolution of the theoretical framework of this field of research currently in construction. A discussion with communication professors followed.

In the evening a one-hour interview conducted by Father Gabriel Jaime Perez, Vice-Chancellor of the University, Fanny Franco and Mónica Marión was recorded at the university radio station, Javeriana Estereo 107.5 FM. A write-up of the interview will be published in the next issue of the indexed academic journal “Signo & Pensamiento”.

For the launching of the Antologia, another half-day workshop on Friday February 28th, gathered communication students and faculty from the main universities in Cali, including Universidad del Valle, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Universidad de Occidente and Universidad Santo Tomas. The Dean of the Communication and Language Department of Universidad Javeriana, José Vicente Arizmendi, and the Director of the Faculty of Communication, Jorge Manrique, opened the seminar with speeches followed by presentations by Professors Marión and Franco. Alfonso Gumucio spoke on why and how the Anthology was developed.

The afternoon was devoted to visiting youth groups working on social issues using the communication for social change approach of dialogue and participation. The first group, Sistema Departamental Juvenil de Comunicacion (Departmental Youth Communication System) gathers about 30 young communication activists from various cities and rural areas within the Valley Department of Colombia. They meet regularly to take forward a communication process that is inclusive and allows young men and women from different social strata to discuss and design their own strategies. They use video and radio to express their issues. Many of them mentioned that their training benefited from texts such as “The New Communicator” and “Making Waves”.

A visit to the poor neighbourhood of Agua Blanca followed where “Movimiento Latino”, the youth drama group, was rehearsing a play on violence and drug dealing, a topic particularly important in this region of Colombia. When asked about their understanding of theatre as communication, they emphasized that in only a couple of years it had transformed their lives and had the potential to transforming their community as well.

On the third day of activities two additional visits were programmed, the first in Santander de Quilichao across the border of the Cauca Department, a town located about one hour drive from Cali, where another youth group, named “Tengo Ganas” (”I want to…”) has been producing short video-clips on issues that affect their community, such as environmental care, peer pressure, self-esteem, or violence, underscoring the values of peace, understanding and solidarity. The Mayor of the city participated in the meeting and highlighted the value of supporting youth organizations.

The three communication projects described above are developed in partnership with students from Universidad Javeriana de Cali, who spend weekends providing support to the youth groups, using a communication for social change approach.

The journey continued higher into the hills to Caldono where one of the main Colombian organizations of native indians, the CRIC, has set up an audio-visual production centre and a community radio station, Uswal Nasa Yuwe. Vicente Otero, a leading figure in communication within the indigenous organisations, explained the strategy that has lead to impressive demonstrations demanding more rights for indigenous communities in Colombia. Participatory communication has played an important role.

Still a couple of hours ahead, in the historic Popayan, the capital city of the Cauca Department, another meeting was scheduled late in the afternoon with Giezzi Lasso, Director of the Communication Programme at the Universidad del Cauca, and several professors to exchange views about their curricula, which is about to be reviewed in the perspective of including a communication for development and social change approach.

In our next blog-note we will provide information about the launching of the ANTOLOGIA in Bogota.

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