Paper short abstract:

One Gram of Gold is a participatory film project about the everyday as it is lived in Nyarugusu, an artisanal and small-scale gold mining village in Tanzania. The two miners, Raphael and Robert, guide us through the mining landscape, portraying the risks, uncertainties and dreams of mining.

Paper long abstract:

‘One gram of gold’ (15 min) is about gold — a global commodity shaping local livelihoods and landscapes across the world. It is a participatory film project that aims to move beyond an ethnocentric gaze on mining, giving voice to local perspectives and portraying the everyday as it is lived in Nyarugusu, a mining village in the northern part of Tanzania. Raphael Msya and Robert Mwenda, two miners from Nyarugusu, are the reporters, interviewing fellow miners and guiding us through the gold mining landscape - from the humid underground tunnels to the dusty processing sites. They not only show us the risks, challenges and uncertainties that are embedded in mining but also the hopes and dreams it invokes. Their stories highlight the ambiguities of a sector that is degrading landscapes and endangering lives, but at the same time crucial for providing a livelihood. Through its participatory format, the film challenges the roles of researcher and participant. Different from academic writing, it is not driven by a coherent argument, but allows for multiple stories to unfold. Yet, it is still an edited representation, presenting a small fraction of hours of footage. This aspect of participatory and collaborative filmmaking is rarely transparent and poses ethical questions pertaining to how we co-represent mining worlds through multimodal formats.

Link: https://filmfreeway.com/projects/2340806

Password: Nyargusu2019