Ulises García Figueroa - The creative and ethical work of video editing in research
This episode delves into the creative work in video editing and my positionality as a research assistant in this activity regarding ethical stances and lived experience. During an audiovisual collective effort, the post-production phase involves gathering necessary materials to create a final piece that not only presents data but also ensures a respectful treatment of information. Typically, this process follows the production stage, during which I have not been involved as a research assistant. Still, my involvement tries to go beyond the mechanical ensemble of images in a narrative sequence as the mere final point of the assembly line. A work in the category of representation related to oppressed groups is always an endeavour that should be taken as susceptible to causing effects over time. Some misinformed representations could result in unwanted outcomes to the detriment of diverse populations; therefore, video editing activity bears a significant responsibility in an ethical final piece that respects people and cultures.
When dealing with human history and stories, representation constitutes a crucial issue in order to deliver clear messages while avoiding biases and harmful stereotypes or tropes. In the podcast, I narrate my encounter with footage created for exhibition at the ICTMD Pre-Conference Symposium held in September 2024 about the topic of Healing, Health, and Wellbeing from Indigenous Perspectives on Music and Dance. In those videos, there were valuable testimonies, music, dance, and a brief insight into Mi'kmaq cultural practices, language, and worldview. Being the last member of the team who joined the project, I tried to show a final product that included all relevant material from the Mi'kmaq perspective, forming an attractive storyline for the audience without changing messages or the purpose of the video.
Topics in the documentary film, such as colonization, racism, and Indigenous history, deeply resonated with my own lived experience in the Global South national state of Mexico. This prompted an unexpected analysis of the various Indigenous realities and histories in different locations within the Americas. As a de-indigenized mestizo person from Mexico, this video-editing task resulted in a reexamination of my own impact and actions regarding an external contribution of Indigenous representation in research. By comparing the different processes of violence, dispossession, and denial of sovereignty, the public display —academic or not— of any Indigenous representation on video can contribute to a societal acknowledgement of the harm done and in-doing. It can shed light on the path to reparation and new social agreements of coexistence and justice in general.
