Document details

Producing Citizenship in Contexts of Conflict: Citizenship Practices Among Youth Participating in Save the Children’s Media Production Programs in Colombia

Montreal: McGill University, Master Thesis (2014), 139 pp.
"This MA thesis explores the emergence of new citizenship practices among youth participating in two school-based media collectives in areas of Colombia marked by violence and conflict. I draw from Rodriguez’s (2001, 2011) citizens’ media theory, which highlights the role of performance in communication processes as a mechanism for social change, to study media products created by youth participating in two school-based communication groups, one in the city of Tumaco and one in the city of Pasto. These two groups are part of the Paco project, an initiative of Aprendiendo Crecemos, a Canadian-funded education program operated by Save the Children International and the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Nariño department of Colombia, an area facing high levels of violence and internal displacement. These media collectives are spaces where youth produce different forms of media, such as television, radio, and press, on topics related to children’s rights and local issues. In this context, this MA thesis explores the ways in which youth use these media production opportunities to negotiate, perform, and learn their roles as citizens whose voices matter and whose political actions can lead to social change. I argue that youth participation in these media collectives contributes to the internalization of understandings of citizenship based on pluralism, dialogue, and relationships with public institutions based on accountability and transparency." (Abstract)