This group project is part of a seminar on the Politics of Humanitarianism at the University of British Columbia.
In the syllabus, the assignment is described as follows :
Group Projects: In groups of 4-5, you will design a project that critically investigates some aspect of the advocacy and humanitarian organization Invisible Children.com, a group that has galvanized one of the largest lobbies in US history in response to a war in Africa and resulted in the passage of US legislation (2010) to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army. Started by three young American film-makers after they hitch hiked to northern Uganda with a camera bought on e-bay, it is today a multi-million dollar enterprise, using innovative social networking and creative communications. From roadies to ‘sit-ins’ and demonstrations, lobby days and lotteries, public challenges and competitions to economic development, infrastructure building and educational work, and interventions in peace talks and diplomatic circles, the Invisible Children are a rich example of storytelling that gives impetus to humanitarian action, including urging youth to think creatively on how to make a difference in their own day to day lives. Arguably, it is the ‘new breed’ of global citizenship and activism that turns the present humanitarian morass on its head. This is not without controversy. It seemingly turns suffering into a commodity, promotes war tourism and reproduces problematic racial narratives of saviours and survivors.
Each week your group will spend time on the Invisible Children.org website and researching the various facets of the initiative on the internet, we will briefly discuss your views and reactions as you learn and connect who is interested in what questions and aspects of investigation. The idea is to identify the different threads and form groups around these, some aspect of the movement (the policy, the fundraising, the humanitarian work, the advocacy) and for each group to take on some aspect of this.
So instead of submitting a written project proposal, we decided to do a video proposal....
Group Project Proposal from Visible People on Vimeo.
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