Paper short abstract:

The films produced in "überalltag" convey a cultural anthropological way of looking at everyday life. We will explain the setup of the project and reflect on broader questions of science communication concerning YouTube-Videos as a way of sparking young people’s interest.

Paper long abstract:

What expertise and specific ways of looking at cultural and social phenomena can ethnological and cultural anthropological disciplines offer for young people? This is the main question behind our teaching/science communication project “überalltag”. Students produce short films for pupils (aged approx. 15 to 20 years) focusing on everyday topics such as social media or waste disposal. Unfamiliar ways of looking at everyday life from a cultural anthropological perspective will at best have an eureka effect on the viewers - or in other words, it will create an exciting and productive form of uncertainty. As a side effect, Cultural Anthropology is introduced as a discipline and possible subject of study.

As a first part of our presentation, we will explain the setup of the course and present its first results: From laying the conceptual groundwork to collaborating with graphic designers to getting practical insights into film production through different workshops. In a second step we will reflect on broader questions of science communication concerning this target group and YouTube-Videos as a way of sparking young people’s interest.

In the roundtable discussion we would like to share the finding that even though it is a discipline that is highly relevant and competent for addressing broader questions of how we live together and how to deal with uncertainties, Cultural Anthropology lacks communication strategies to convey this expertise to the public. While drawing from our own experiences with challenges and opportunities we hope to contribute some ideas in that matter.