The Reframed Stories Project [1] asks people to respond to dominant themes and issues that appear in news coverage about their communities. These stories are reflections by people who are frequently represented by others in the media. Word clouds are created using the Media Cloud platform [2], a data analysis tool which examines a collection of media outlets over a specific period of time, allowing participants to analyze and discuss the preliminary insights into how they might be represented in the media. The project refrains from making conclusive pronouncements about the data, and instead is a starting point that creates space for discussion about how they can help shape their own media representation through digital media.
Dunen Kaneybia Muelas is an Arhuaco youth leader and currently serves as technical secretary with the National Commission for Indigenous Women [3]. The following is a transcript of the video above about Dunen's analysis of the word cloud for the term, “comunidades indígenas” (indigenous communities).
Dominant words from 1,668 articles published between January 2017 and April 2018 found mentioning “comunidades indígenas” in articles within five Media Cloud collections of Colombian’s Spanish-language media outlets. (view larger image [4]).
(Siento) inconformidad con las palabras que aparecen acá sobre ‘comunidades indígenas y pueblos’ porque considero que tiene un enfoque económico, ya que utilizan palabras como “proyectos” “zonas”, “ambiental”.
Creo que las comunidades indígenas y los pueblos somos más que eso.
Esta nube de palabras prácticamente no dice ni 1% sobre mi comunidad. Creo que no nos pueden ver a los pueblos indígenas solamente como desarrollo, no nos pueden ver exclusivamente como proyectos.
Creo que el no entender las diversas propuestas que tienen los pueblos indígenas tiene efectos nocivos sobre nuestra permanencia en los territorios.
I disagree with the words that appear here about indigenous communities and peoples because I feel that it has an economic focus, as they include words such as “projects,” “areas,” and “environmental”.
I think indigenous communities and peoples are more than that.
This word cloud practically says less than 1% about my community. I feel that they shouldn’t see indigenous peoples only in terms of development, they cannot see us exclusively as projects.
I believe that not understanding the diverse initiatives that indigenous peoples offer can have harmful effects for our permanency in the territories.
Acá propongo unas palabras que considero que nos representan: “diversidad”, “autonomía”, “sabiduría”, “consulta previa”,“guardianes”, “madre tierra”, “territorios ancestrales”,“derecho”, “mujeres indígenas.
Nos parece muy importante esta iniciativa para que los pueblos y comunidades indígenas podamos resignificar nuestra percepción de Internet, dado que este es un nivel de incidencia importante.
Here are some proposed words that I think represent us: “diversity,” “autonomy,” “wisdom,” “prior consultation,” “guardians,” “mother earth,” “ancestral territories,” “rights,” “indigenous women”.
We consider this initiative to be very important for indigenous communities and peoples because we can resignify our perception of the internet, since it offers an important level of advocacy.
What words or terms should an ideal word cloud representing Colombian indigenous communities in the media include?
- Diversidad
- Autonomía
- Sabiduría
- Consulta previa
- Guardianes de la madre tierra
- Territorios ancestrales
- Mujeres indígenas
- Derechos
- Minería
- Colonización
- Justicia propia
- Liderazgo
- Diversity
- Autonomy
- Wisdom
- Previous consultation
- Mother Earth's guardians
- Ancient territories
- Indigenous women
- Rights
- Mining
- Colonization
- Own justice
- Leadership
This is part of a Rising Frames series developed with Mónica Bonilla [5], who organized and facilitated a workshop held on May 18, 2018 at the Center of Internet and Society [6] at Del Rosario University -ISUR- in Bogotá, Colombia that brought together representatives from the Arhuaco and Wayuu indigenous communities to take part in this digital storytelling activity.