Images haven’t loaded yet. Please exit printing, wait for images to load, and try to
print again.
Pintando La Raya | Indigenous
Resistance and Biocultural
Conservation through Participatory
Video
By Thor Edmundo Morales
Terralingua Follow
Sep 22, 2017 · 7 min read
At the onset of this decade, members of three ethnic groups gathered in
the state of Sonora, northwestern Mexico. Seri (Comcaac), Rarámuri,
and Yaqui participants went to the Yaqui village of Vicam to get their Crst
exposure to participatory video (PV), with training provided by the UKbased organization InsightShare. Three facilitators, 16 participants, Cve
diNerent languages, and 12 days of intensive intercultural exchange
around cameras, culture, and indigenous voices on climate change. It
was a success. Everyone loved the participatory approach and enjoyed
using cameras, had fun Clming, and learned what it feels like to be
Clmed. Communities got involved in the process through night-time
screenings and word-of-mouth communication. The power of video was
unveiled and participants’ creativity unleashed. This is how Pintando La
Raya was born, although at that stage I didn’t even imagine the outcomes and surprises this PV journey would yield. My expectations have
been far exceeded.
ate change, Ksheries, and hunting. Photo: Thor Morales, 2010. Right: Eusebia
ages of the Participatory Video (PV) adventure. Photo: Thor Morales, 2012
After this Crst gathering, the newly formed PV teams started to produce
their own documentary Clms, mostly based on biocultural knowledge,
with an emphasis on foodways and nature conservation. Every Clm required several screenings in order to be Cnished and approved by the
community. Video acted as a “third party” in the relationship between
Clmmakers and community. It opened the door to a new form of communication within villages. Through interviews with neglected and forgotten cultural groups and persons such as elders, youngsters, and women,
PV allowed for their voices to be heard. People regained conCdence and
exerted their prerogative to speak their minds and share ideas on issues
they felt needed to be visualized and, above all, changed. Speaking on
camera allowed everyone to Cnd a way to express themselves and overcome discrimination, fear, or shyness. Soon, PV Clmmakers noticed that
everyone was interested in this new form of communication (and in their
Clms). Communities took pride in their participation in endogenously
produced movies. They no longer needed to depend on foreign media to
speak for them. PV provided the key to true and real, culturally relevant,
freedom of expression.
Top Left: Rarámuri women watch indigenous Klms during a community screening in Sojahuachi, Rarámuri territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2013. Top
Right: José Luis Bajeca, Samuel Cupis, and Eusebia Flores get a laugh while reviewing their footage during their training to become facilitators. Photo:
Thor Morales, 2014. Bottom Left: Romelia Barnett (R) and Anabela Carlon with Soledad Muñiz (InsightShare Senior facilitator) during a training
workshop in Loma de Bacum, Yaqui Territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015. Bottom Right: Participants working on a storyboard as part of the PV
facilitator training. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
Both Seri and Yaqui, in particular, became aware of video’s potential for
community building, problem solving, biocultural documentation, and
engagement of marginalized groups. Then in 2015 they decided that
making PV Clms for these purposes was not enough. While they were enjoying it and were getting results within their communities, the seasoned
Yaqui and Seri Clmmakers were ready to go further. This gift had to be
shared with other communities within and outside their ethnic groups.
Commitment, solidarity, and recognition of shared issues aNecting indigenous peoples sparked a new ideal: becoming PV facilitators, with an
aim to disseminate PV to all indigenous communities in northwestern
Mexico (just as a starting point!). The use of cameras, they felt, should
have a social impact. Video, they realized, has the power to confront issues aNecting what matters most to Native peoples: territory — a simple
word that embraces culture, nature, history, dignity, land, food, dreams,
landscapes, mindsets. It’s home, often sacred and venerated.
Based on this idea of territory, Pintando la Raya was born. This is a Mexican-Spanish expression meaning “stay oN” (literally “drawing the line”).
It is a metaphorical warning to outsiders seeking to illegally and aggressively take over indigenous lands and resources and exploit culture and
nature without giving any beneCts back to Native peoples.
Left: Valentina Barnett (right) has fun while teaching her older sisters (Susana and Mina) the art of PV. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015. Middle: Valentina
Barnett & Imelda Morales record the sunset during a PV training in the community of El Desemboque, Seri Territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015.
Right: Seri participants Klm sound e[ects at Punta Chueca, Seri Territory, for their Klm on language loss. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
The intent of Pintando La Raya is not to separate the indigenous from the
non-indigenous. It is a community-based initiative that seeks to empower
rural communities and bridge the gap between Native peoples and urban
centers, regionally, nationally, and worldwide. Local problems need solidarity from outsiders. Indigenous peoples need to form networks of support and resistance to face challenges that threaten their territories.
Native communities need to be able to speak for themselves, portray and
share their stories in a way that is genuine and re_ects local points of
view. The overall goal is to train an “army” of PV Clmmakers, using the
tool of video according to the community’s concerns and desires. The advantage of video is that it emulates the traditional oral way of passing on
knowledge as well as the experiential learning process common in most
indigenous communities. It is a modern tool that can be implemented to
revitalize ancient cultural ways. The participatory approach ensures
video is equally accessible and all voices have their say.
Left: Seri and Yaqui participants during an editing session. This is what PV editing looks like: many heads, many hands, many points of view
mingling to create one Klm. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015. Middle: Community screening of the Krst video produced through a training conducted by
indigenous facilitators. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015. Right: The author with indigenous facilitators and trainees at the outskirts of the Sierra Madre,
Guarijío Territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
First steps have been taken. As of this writing, PV Clmmakers from the
Guarijío and Yoreme indigenous communities have received training
from mixed teams of Yaqui and Seri delivered the trainings. At least four
communities in Sonora can now use video to support their struggles and
share their ideas, messages, and issues with other Native peoples and a
wider audience, in addition to documenting their own traditions,
strengthening their language, and creating media in a culturally appropriate manner.
Valentina García is trained in tripod and camera use during her Krst approach to PV. Photo: Thor
Morales, 2015
Many people have been involved in this process, but current members of
Pintando La Raya include: Anabela Carlon, Eusebia Flores, Valentina
García, and Samuel Cupis from the Yaqui tribe, and Romelia Barnett,
Valentina Barnett, Samuel Romero, and Jose Ramón Torres from the Seri
tribe. They believe indigenous-to-indigenous PV training allows for immediate trust and solidarity between fellow Native peoples. Their initiative builds on their 4-year experience as PV practitioners and the training
delivered by InsightShare, through which they have become PV facilitators. Their story is one full of commitment, responsibility, compassion,
hard work, fun, delight, and laughter. The main pillars of this project are:
community cinema and screenings, to share powerful and inspiring Native peoples’ stories from all over the world; PV trainings, to create a
marabunta (a word that refers to nomadic ants that gather in high numbers, often in the millions) of PV Clmmakers; documentary Clmmaking,
to express their own ideas and address issues that aNect biocultural continuity and territorial sovereignty.
Coastal landscape of the Seri territory. Photo: Thor Morales, 2014
Pintando La Raya is an initiative created by Native Mexicans for Native
Mexicans. Yet, it will surely lead the way for other marginalized groups
to use PV as a powerful tool to protect nature, culture, dignity, and human rights in general. The Yaqui and Seri are pioneering a trail that will
take them to unimagined places, literally and metaphorically.
Romelia Barnett sharing footage with Guarijío children during a PV training. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015. Wilderness landscape surrounding the Guarijío
community near San Bernardo, Sonora, Mexico. Photo: Thor Morales, 2015
Thor Morales is a tireless traveler and photographer committed to biocultural conservation. During the last 4 years he has used media to unleash his
passion for telling stories that contribute to a more diverse world. He facilitates participatory video workshops with indigenous communities, so that
more stories are told independently and locally.
. . .
Further Reading / Viewing
Goodsmith, L., & Acosta, A. (2011). Community Video for Social Change:
A Toolkit. Minneapolis, MN: American Refugee Committee International.
La Marabunta Filmadora. (2015). [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/user/LaMarabuntaFilmadora
Lunch, N., & Lunch, C. (2006). Insights into Participatory Video, a handbook for the Held. InsightShare. Retrieved from http://www.insightshare.org/sites/insightshare.org/Cles/Cle/Insights%20into%20Participa
tory%20Video%20%20A%20Handbook%20for%20the%20Field%20(English)(1).pdf
Muniz, S. (2012). Participatory development communication (PDC):
rhetoric or reality? The analysis of community-based level interventions in
Latin America and Africa with dialogue and empowerment as intended outcomes (MSc Dissertation). University of Reading, London, UK.
. . .
This article was originally published in Langscape Magazine Volume
5, Issue 1, Summer 2016.
View the Editorial and the Table of Contents.
Langscape Magazine can be purchased in Terralingua’s Marketplace.
Subscribe to Langscape