Ep2(S5) How can film and digital storytelling be used in migration research?

The Migration Podcast

It’s an exciting time for qualitative research methods these days. Migration scholars are pushing the boundaries of traditional interview techniques, with the aim to amplify the voices of marginalized groups as well as to influence policy and reach wider audiences. In this episode you’ll hear Silindile Mlilo interview two researchers who are using creative and non-traditional research methods. Isabel Rose Soloaga will talk about the use of participatory research and film through her forthcoming documentary, Growing Up in America: Life After the Taliban. The film is a personal story following two young girls and their family, who were forced to evacuate Kabul after the Taliban rose to power in 2021. Isabel told us: “Everyone has a camera and a platform today through social media, so I think debates on how to use these tools in an ethical way, while inviting people to reach out to their new neighbors -- the key message of my film.” Ntokozo Yingwana will discuss her use of digital story telling – which I learned is, the growing practice of everyday people using digital tools to tell their stories. In her PhD research project “Queering Sex Work and Mobility in South Africa: How does Migration and mobility Influence Genderded Sexualities in Sex Work? Duh-kozo conducted data collection through a digital storytelling workshop and WhatsApp. She also worked with two of people from her research participant group, who are sex workers, as research assistants. Isabel Rose Soloaga is a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex School of Law, Politics and Sociology in the UK and an Independent Documentary Filmmaker Ntokozo Yingwana is a Doctoral researcher at the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University in South Africa. Are you interested in reading more? Yingwana, N. (2024). Sex Work in Africa. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_83-1. Yingwana, N. (2022). Queering Sex Work and Mobility. Anti-Trafficking Review, 19, 66–86. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201222195. Vidima, N., Tenga, R., & Yingwana, N. (2022). Reflections on the use of FPAR as a research methodology for sex worker (and key populations) research. Global Public Health, 17(10), 2604–2616. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2022.2110915. Life After the Taliban: Kabul to California: A Cinematic Exploration of New Beginnings by The Reel Truth https://videoconsortium.org/mag/thereeltruth05 Watch our short film: https://vimeo.com/801454823?share=copy After narrowly escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in August 2021, 21 year old Ali and his family begin a new life in Northern California. Growing up in America: Life After the Taliban, is an intimate documentary short following one family's journey of building home after war. Directed by Isabel Soloaga (https://www.isabelsoloaga.com) Co-Directed by Najaf Ali Mohammady ○ Website: https://www.lifeaftertalibandoc.com ○ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifeaftertalibdoc ○ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeaftertalib_doc/ ○ You can support Isabel's upcoming feature film by donating at https://bit.ly/LifeAfterTalib_Doc