'Now there's a Grassroots Activist Movement..' Een onderzoek naar de representatie en constructie van grassrootsbewegingen in documentaires
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2015-08-31
Language
nl
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This research explores the constructing and narrative qualities of documentaries in relation to grassroots movements, with the aim to get a clearer understanding on the concept grassroots, the construction of a collective identity and the added value of documentary. Former research has indicated that it is still not exactly clear what grassroots activism entails and how collective identity is constructed. Also, predominantly the online media has been researched and has been regarded as just a knot in a network. By analysing four contemporary documentaries about grassroots movements and comparing it to public and official expressions of the movements, this research explores how grassroots movements promote themselves and how the documentary constructs ideologies and identities.
The findings of the research indicate that the concept of grassroots is ambiguous and especially ‘new’ characteristics of the grassroots, like the network and the use of social media, have been problematized. The definitions of grassroots activism and social movements overlap and are difficult to distinguish in practice. Also, the movements are not as connected as the documentaries suggest them to be. In fact, the movements are only vaguely addressed on the Internet and the initiatives rarely mention each other. In this sense, collective identity seems to be mostly constructed by a shared vision and not by fysical or virtual interaction. This raises the question when something can be called grassroots, an activist group or a movement.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Letteren