Is collaboration and co-creation an illusionary practice?

Francis, Patricia

Abstract

In 2020, documentary filmmaker Reece Auguiste and his colleagues speculated that ‘[c]o-creation functions as a utopian idea that may never be fully actualized.’ Co-creation and collaboration are concepts that dissemble the power and control intrinsic in the oral history research process, where digging for and extracting resource, taking, and then leaving, are pre-requisites to securing credible and robust oral histories.

Co-creation and collaboration suggest equity between contributing parties and a non-partisan, non-hierarchical approach to creating oral history artefacts. In my paper I argue that it is not possible to apply such democratic principles when capturing oral history for documentary films, when an independent filmmaker leads on the vision that will inevitably also lead the process, after securing involvement and co-operation from subject(s). I suggest that despite attempts to advocate equity between the filmmaker and the filmed subject, a power dynamic endures with the maker/researcher needing to carefully manage the ‘collaborative’ relationship in an attempt to obtain, protect and preserve the historical data held by the subject.

Citation

Francis, P. (2023, June). Is collaboration and co-creation an illusionary practice?. Paper presented at Oral History Society Making Histories Together Conference 2023, Nottingham

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Oral History Society Making Histories Together Conference 2023
• Conference Location: Nottingham
• Start Date: Jun 23, 2023
• End Date: Jun 24, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 21, 2024
• Keywords: Oral History, Filmmaking,
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11984203
• Publisher URL: https://www.ohs.org.uk/events/making-histories-together-2023-annual-conference-of-the-oral-history-society-in-partnership-with-nottingham-trent-university/