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Accepted Paper:
Making Films, Making Knowledge: Co-producing a Documentary about China’s Rapidly Declining Birth Rate
Willy Sier
(Utrecht University)
Based on reflections of different people involved in a collaborative film project conducted in the summer of 2023 in Wuhan and Shenzhen, this paper discusses the (ethical) dilemmas and questions raised through co-producing a short documentary entitled "Baby Stress in China".
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I discuss the dilemmas and questions raised through co-producing a short documentary entitled Baby Stress in China (2024) with an anonymous interlocutor-turned-researcher in China. The project, conducted in the summer of 2023 in Wuhan and Shenzhen, involved research participants in the research process and started from my interlocutors’ most widely shared common concerns: Should I have a baby? How? When? Exploring these questions together by collaborating on a visual project shed new light on the gendered social dynamics behind China’s rapidly decreased birth rate. However, the method also raises questions about how relevant research questions are formulated and by who? How do inequalities and relations of power play out within the context of collaborative research projects? What are the ethical questions that need to be considered in this type of research, for example, in relation to research credit and anonymity?
Based on reflections of different people involved in this film project, including the collaborative partner, people who were filmed for the project, and myself, this paper investigates how participatory, visual methods can contribute to making anthropological research more equitable and democratic, as well as increasing the discipline’s mobilizing force by making the insights it reaps accessible for a broad public.