Abstract Book of the 10th International Conference on Modern Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2025
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Collective audiovisual creation as a tool to build erzählung, participation and community: exploring digital storytelling and collaborative filmmaking
Elsa Herrera Bautista, Tony Meneses Muñoz
ABSTRACT:
Participation, when viewed as a human right, is widely accepted as a fundamental requirement for democratic and healthy communities. Empowerment is often seen as a goal when working with marginalised groups, such as women from rural areas and children without parental care. In terms of discourse, participation is firmly rooted in the legal framework. In Mexico, for example, it is recognised as a right for the entire population, as well as for specific groups such as children, young people, women and people with disabilities. In practice, however, participation can have different levels. In this paper, I focus on participation as a three-element process: information, expression and impact. I emphasise that impact is crucial for meaningful participation because it brings about a sense of empowerment and establishes connections with the community. This exploration is based on two methods for collective audiovisual creation: digital storytelling and collaborative filmmaking. Through the review of two specific cases, I demonstrate the potential of audiovisual creation to enhance participation and built a sense of community. This is because it enables the forging of erzählung, meaning storytelling as described by Walter Benjamin and Byung- Chul Han, in an era of endless information.
Keywords: arts, empowerment, human rights, storytelling, vulnerability