Troubling the National Brand and Voicing Hidden Histories: Historical Drama as a tool for International Development and Community Empowerment

这一试点项目的目的是支持巴西、印度和南非的特定边缘社区，通过“国家品牌”和其他“软实力”倡议，挑战这些国家向世界展示自己的方式。通过这样做，该项目寻求在国内和国际上提高对这些社区在社会中的不稳定地位的认识，并支持他们开展运动，改变他们的生活。该项目的重点将是为大屏幕和小屏幕制作的历史剧在国家品牌塑造活动中经常出现的特权地位。从《唐顿庄园》在英国公共外交活动中的工具化，到宝莱坞历史史诗巨著Jodhaa Akbar(AShuosh Gowariker，2008)在吸引非居民印度人投资活动中所扮演的角色，历史剧经常被认为是国家国际投射的优秀工具，使精英阶层能够有效地传达被认为是软实力杠杆作用的‘国家战略叙事’中的关键信息。我们的项目将考察这类戏剧性事件在三个官方发展援助受援国发挥的作用，许多评论员认为这三个国家对“全球南方”的更广泛发展至关重要。尽管它们都是金砖国家集团的成员，但它们都处于非常不同的发展阶段。这三个国家都与他们的殖民历史有着复杂的关系，而且在每一个案例中，这段历史在今天的国家建设中都扮演着不同的角色。该项目将从调查这三个国家如何将历史作为其‘软实力’战略中的一项重要资产开始，特别是关注每个国家的电影工具化。然后，该项目将与国际发展机构合作，探索这些社会中一些最边缘化的群体如何体验这些国家叙事。在南非，我们将与西蒙主教信托基金合作，支持“无证儿童”团体挑战国家的“过渡”故事。在印度，我们将与Budhan Theatre/Nomad Films和‘去分化部落权利行动小组’(DNT RAG)合作，探索这些位于印度西部城市的前‘犯罪部落’社区的历史困境。在巴西，我们将与国际计划组织和来自Coodó(Maranhão)的年轻人合作，Coodó(Maranhão)是巴西幸存的Quilombos或‘栗色社区’之一。通过联合制作的过程，我们将由这些团体对他们国家向世界展示历史的方式做出一系列视频回应。这些视频的目的将是支持这些群体反思他们在社会中的地位，使他们能够通过学习我们其他案例研究的经验，在全球范围内了解他们的斗争情况，并开展提高认识运动。在这个过程中，这个项目响应了这一呼吁中的几个方面，支持被边缘化的社区发声“隐藏的历史”，这些“隐藏的历史”“没有表现地方和国家的故事”。它还将探索“创造性实践作为国际发展和跨文化交流工具的潜力”。然而，最重要的是，它将与“沉默、无声和健忘的问题”进行接触，以挑战我们将与之合作的三个社区的“声音贫困”和“社会排斥”。在这一过程中，该项目还将促进翻译文化和关心未来的发展，为“翻译的工具”(叙事、表演和其他文化手工艺品)和文化间交流提供机会。此外，它将与我们的外部合作伙伴合作，探索如何利用历史叙述来改变弱势社区的生活。

The aim of this pilot project is to support specific marginalised communities in Brazil, India and South Africa to challenge the way these nations present themselves to the world via 'nation branding' and other 'soft power' initiatives. In so doing, the project seeks to raise awareness nationally and internationally of these communities' precarious place in society and to support them in campaigning to effect change in their lives. The particular focus of the project will be on the privileged place historical dramas made for the large and small screen frequently have in 'nation-branding' exercises. From the instrumentalisation of Downton Abbey within public diplomacy initiatives in the UK to the role played by the Bollywood historical epic Jodhaa Akbar (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2008) in campaigns to attract investment from non-resident Indians, historical dramas are frequently considered to be excellent vehicles for the international projection of the nation, allowing elites to communicate effectively the key messages in the 'national strategic narrative' that are considered to be central to the leverage of soft power. Our project will look at the role such dramas play in three ODA recipient countries that are considered by many commentators to be central to the broader development of the 'global South'. Although all are members of the BRICS grouping, all are at very different stages in their development. All have complex relationships to their colonial pasts and, in each case, this past plays a distinctive role in the present-day construction of the nation.The project will begin with an investigation of how all three nations use their history as an important asset within their 'soft power' strategies, focussing in particular on the instrumentalisation of film in each country. The project will then work with international development agencies to explore how these national narratives are experienced by some of the most marginalised groups within these societies. In South Africa, we will work with the Bishop Simeon Trust to support groups of 'undocumented children' to challenge the national story of 'transition'. In India we will work with Budhan Theatre/Nomad Films and with the 'Denotified Tribes Rights Action Group' (DNT RAG) to explore the historical predicament of these ex-'Criminal Tribe' communities in the cities of western India. In Brazil, we will work with Plan International and young people from Codó (Maranhão), one of Brazil's surviving quilombos or 'maroon communities'. Through a process of co-production we will make a series of video responses by these groups to the way their nations' histories are presented to the world. The purpose of the videos will be to support these groups to reflect upon their place in society, allowing them to contextualize their struggles globally by learning from the experience of our other case studies, and to develop awareness-raising campaigns. In the process, this project responds to several strands in this call, supporting marginalized communities to voice 'hidden histories' that 'have been absent from the representation of local and national stories'. It will also explore 'the potential of creative practice as a tool for international development and intercultural communication'. However, most significantly it will engage 'with questions of silence, voicelessness and amnesia', in order to challenge 'voice poverty' within, and the 'social exclusion' of, the three communities with which we will be working. In the process the project will also contribute to the development of both Translating Cultures and Care for the Future, providing opportunities for 'reflection on the vehicles of translation' (narratives, performances and other cultural artefacts) and intercultural exchange. In addition, it will work with our external partners to explore the way historical narratives can be used to effect change in the lives of vulnerable communities.