The project is titled "Being 'We the People:' Afghanistan, America and the Minority Imprint" and centers on "establishing international exchange and promoting constitutional principles to emerging democracies through educational and civic learning initiatives" (source).
Week 8 Philadelphia
The program's early statement of intent on the AAM website details the program's aim:
Nasim Fekrat is a young journalist, who publishes in both Farsi and English, and is a member of one of Afghanistan’s ethnic minorities. Several years ago, he traveled to a province in the south of the country controlled by the Taliban. “Why do you speak my language,” a villager asked Nasim, “if you are from China?” Nasim insisted that he was Afghan like the villager, despite his distinctly Asiatic features, characteristic of Nasim’s particular ethnic group. The villager, having never seen anyone outside of his own community, and knowing no public figure of Nasim’s ethnicity to serve as a frame of reference, refused to believe that he and Nasim shared a national identity.
Nasim was inspired by the experience to suggest a traveling portraiture exhibition, to expose Afghans all over the country to images of the people with whom they share a country. But Nasim’s story, which he told Center staff during a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan, raised a further question: What role can minority groups have in a democracy that does not always recognize them—in Nasim’s case, literally—as citizens? Dedicated to promoting citizenship, the National Constitution Center engaged enthusiastically with this question, and, in collaboration with partner organizations in Afghanistan, developed the following response: The role of minority groups in a democracy depends entirely on how its members perceive themselves as citizens,which, in turn, depends entirely on what they interpret “citizenship” to mean.
Combining the fields of documentary photography and oral history, the Center will partner with a school in Afghanistan and with the National Museum of Afghanistan, to empower students to answer—or interpret—the question for themselves. As they explore the question, they will be sharing the process, imparting what they learn, and collaborating with a predominantly minority high school in Philadelphia as its students explore the same question. (source)
As part of exhibit development, students are sharing photos online on Shutterfly, at http://beingwethepeople.shutterfly.com/. The photos don't include titles or descriptions from the students to help explain, but maybe these will be added later at the actual exhibit. The students do have the opportunity to comment on the photos, and if you scroll to the bottom of the main page, you can see some of the dialogue students have been having. I like how these comment posts allow students to write their own statements of intent, separate from the project itself. Here are just a few excerpts:
Zainab from Marefat High School (MHS) writes:
My people are trying to forget the bad acrimonious memories from the past, which were no more than war, affliction, destruction and desperate. I want to help my people, myself, and the entire world to forget those days. The world remembers and knows Afghanistan by the pictures of war and agonies. I think it is enough now. It is the time now that the world should get the other pictures of my country too; a country where its people are working for a great change, though there are still bad things and realities too. Joining ‘we the people’ with my photos and paintings, I want to say that my country is not the place of gun and tank. Furthermore, it’s improving and it wants to develop. I don’t want my photos to hidden the hopes of people. Though I admit the harsh realities of affliction too. I wish my people to have the smile of hope. My photos should have this very cry that hatred, war and destruction are enough. (source)Razia from MHS writes:
Some times when the world watches Afghanistan behind the cheek of poverty, suicide, fighting, and zealotry, I think the real picture of my country is not reflected fairly. I knew that Afghanistan is going to progress and there are lots of people who really work hard to bring a lightening future against all the past darkness and the present pessimism. I thought ‘we the people’ would help me to discover goodness of my people. Many important things happened in the course of the current year. For example the second elections is one of the good events which had lots of things to say: people who were witness of a big change on their life (fate) and candidates who were narrator of Afghanistan by a new way. (source)M. Saeid Madadi from MHS writes:
When this program (WE THE PEOPLE) started I thought that it can be a very good opportunity to reach my goal and have communication with other people of our world and say that the post-war generation of Afghanistan thinks otherwise and have a word to say for their world, for their era and for their history. . . .I will have the ability to talk a few words about my people here in Afghanistan, but I have only a rough idea and vision about my fellows in the States. Perhaps this is the first step and we have a lot to do in the course of our mutual works and activities. America is one of the greatest examples of mankind ability and civilization. We are in need of some experiences developed in that country. At the meantime, we may have lots of otherwise things to pass to our fellow Americans. We are trying to build a country and this would have marvelous experiences for us. I am looking forward to having these experiences shared with our fellows. (source)Bismellah from MHS writes:
Of course my goal is, as goal of the project is, to design a proportionately real portrait of Afghans their life and culture and certainly the pictures we took can some how convey our message to our audience, the other side of communication that I am sure it can. I am aware of the condition in which people live, because I am also one of them who live with them and shares sorrows and pleasures with them. And I witnessed every day how they live in my vicinity and how they are. Thus this was not a completely new experience for me; any how, it was an experience. I witnessed once again that how people live, their way and level of life, life of children, who are the bases on which future of his society is being built, their deprivation and sanitary condition.
Although I witnessed all mentioned above, I am not pessimistic about the situation, because I can not ignore and under estimate what has been done during seven or eight years in the country, I mean Afghanistan, and changes that has came into our lives. We are optimistic but not satisfied or content, we will try our best to make it better than it is.I admit that my present picture from the States is that taken roughly from the movies and some books. I am sure it will be much otherwise when we go ahead and make communications and interactions with our fellow Americans. . . . Once again I hope our photographs and essays can convey our mutual messages across. (source)
I wish the teachers had gotten comparable statements from the students in Philadelphia, but you can see some of their intent from the photos themselves. Please check out the site for yourself because it's constantly developing, and there's much more going on than I can capture in a single post. It's definitely an interesting project to consider.
Again, the full project and photos can be found at: http://beingwethepeople.shutterfly.com/.
Wow, there are all kinds of things going on here. I am going to make a short comment for now and come back to this. One thing that is striking is the idea of using photography as a means to explore and literally re-create understandings of citizenship. The example where one Afghani denies the citizenship of another as a possibility really illustrates some of the difficulties of fostering these kinds of over-arching nationalistic connections. How are people supposed to feel connected when they have never met? What "connections" should they have with one another? The problem, of course, is that many people share citizenship with thousands if not millions of people they have never met.
ReplyDeleteFor that reason this project is really interesting, in that citizens are literally using photographs to create this larger national bond or community. It's like the nation of Afghanistan is being introduced to itself by a traveling show.
There is a lot to think about here. The use of photography in this, well, I can see that there might be plenty of possible benefits but also some drawbacks. But maybe that's just a dumb stock answer that doesn't mean anything. More about this later.
Great points - I was thinking about what you said on the difficulties of fostering nationalistic connections.... The U.S. really devotes a huge amount of time and effort toward that goal. Our big 5th grade field trip was to Washington D.C. to visit all the monuments. And there are plenty of unplanned interactions that develop during these trips too. My biggest memory from the trip - I remember writing something about it afterward - was of a homeless person who came into the restaurant where we were eating and took my chicken while I was away in bathroom. Other kids were there and decided to let him have it w/o complaint.
ReplyDeleteAlong those lines, I like how this project gets kids even MORE out and about in the community. Taking kids on a bus to a museum for a day-long field trip puts them in a highly controlled learning environment, like school. They interact with guides with scripts already written out and see targeted displays put together by museum experts.
I mean, compare this photography project to what the National Constitution Center says you'll experience when you visit. Really different... :
"Your visit will begin with the stirring theatrical presentation “Freedom Rising,” a state-of-the-art multimedia event that brings the drama, tension and inspiration of the Constitution to life. In the main exhibition, The Story of We the People, you will have the opportunity to participate in some of the great rites of American democracy – vote for your favorite president, serve on a jury, decide a landmark case at a replica Supreme Court bench, and be sworn in as President of the United States. You also will get the chance to walk among the life-sized bronze statues of the 42 men who drafted the Constitution during the hot summer of 1787 and add your own signature to America’s governing charter.
At the Center, you will learn how our nation came to be, and you will be inspired by the role We the People continue to play in the shaping of its future." (source)
So essentially this is a way of drafting citizens, school kids, into a project that parallels U.S. foreign policy, right?
ReplyDelete"promoting constitutional principles to emerging democracies"
If so, this kind of foreign policy by proxy is very leaky. U.S. students are asking their Afghan counterparts about what they think about the U.S. "war on terror". Others seem to be creating religious fault lines: in response to messages beginning with "In the name of Allah," a not too bright response from the U.S., using an invented opening that we do not use in our discourse, says "In the name of Jesus Christ". Indeed.
Interesting experiment Stacie, much more than I first realized. Will you continue reporting on this?
Hi Max - I'll definitely keep an eye on it. A lot is going on behind the scenes in classroom exchanges.
ReplyDeleteReligious fault lines perhaps, or maybe the students are noting it as something they hold in common. Christians do use "In the name of Jesus Christ" in prayer endings, so it's not entirely invented. Before the student used that line, an Afghan student commented as follows on a picture of people praying in Philadelphia:
"I think this picture is a nice one. you have taken the picture of a girl who had been praying. In our country our people pray too, but it is different from yours. no matter it is all right everone pray God on as he or she wishes." (link)
Ok, in prayer endings, but not really at the start of a letter or email, right? I am not sure -- the only Christians I have known were Catholics, and neither at the end of prayers nor at the start of letters would they normally say that. To me it seemed like someone mimicking their Muslim counterpart, and replacing Allah with Christ. Anyway, interesting to see how quickly religion made its way into the discussion between these students. When I was a kid, religion is something we -- literally -- ran away from.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely would be out of place for Catholics. The last church I was invited to here had only 9 members, all very old. The men kissed one another on the lips as a religious greeting, and you can read an explanation here.
ReplyDeleteWe can't really know the intent of the girl writing, but the fact that what people say and do in church to express their religion isn't always socially acceptable outside of church in the US also presents an interesting dilemma.
One blogger writes, "The Bible frequently tells us to do, pray, or speak 'in the name of…' Sometimes it’s simply 'in Jesus’s name.' Other times it’s more general: 'in the name of the Lord.' ... Doing all we can in the name of Christ demonstrates our gratitude to God for saving us" (link).
Why this would have to be limited to Church, I'm not sure, but starting a letter with "in the name of Jesus" is clearly discouraged in U.S. schools and formal writing, which teach people that the proper way to begin is with the generic "Dear...". But say a person DID want to express their religion with this greeting, to someone else who uses a similar greeting... maybe it's only seemingly out of place.