My name is Nabeel Petersen, a South African citizen on a mission to design and test novel methods for Science Communication, Research and to foster collaboration and stimulate dialogue. I have been employed in the non profit sector as a Project Manager on various projects, after having explored and tested theatrical/drama techniques and incorporating that into Science Communication and Health Messaging. And let me tell you, I am completely motivated and inspired by this community and others toward this goal and Public Engagement.
My experience as a process facilitator includes various participatory methods including: photovoice, drama, collaborative/participatory video, workshop design and events design. Iāve resigned from my formal job in order to test additional methods which I believe have the power to stimulate dialogue, forge relationships across difference sectors and reach larger audiences in organic, fun and interactive means.
Since resigning from my formal employment, Iāve begun developing concepts using Street Arts and collaborations to install live arts installations driven toward Public Engagement. Now, Public Engagement as a term itself is not void of ambiguity and misuse for the purpose of funding or green-stamping our professional works. This isnāt anyoneās fault as itās a field that is developing. We should strive for full participation in our works, not merely using the term as a stamp of approval. Our project aims to forge relationships with very different bodies of knowledge and social status, i.e. biomedical professionals/scientists, community members and artists, all of whom I argue have equally important and necessary knowledge to combat illness, increase the status of general Public Health and, simply put, fight a battle using a full arsenal of knowledge and weapons.
Allow me to rewind, ever so slightly to paint a picture. Iāve previously sought to test photovoice as a participatory method by forging relationships with community members from an under-resourced community in Cape Town, South Africa, and Scientists from the University of the Western Cape. The project sought to bring these varied parties together in a participatory workshop process, after which community members were trained on DSLR cameras and instructed to capture the lived experience of food in their everyday lives. They could capture anything related but not limited to the purchase, consumption or disposal of food. This project revolved around Cardiovascular disease and the Scientists involved were Seniors at the Cardiovascular Research Unit at the University of Stellenbosch. The array of visual material and accompanying narrative was phenomenal and utterly beautiful. It shed light on the constant negotiation of food and consumption in these communities, including the availability of food, what kind of food was deemed healthy or not, when it was suitable for food to be disposed, food as celebration and community building etc. To me, and the Scientists involved, this process unveiled knowledge on food consumption behaviour and more structural issues imposed on these communities. It was never simply a āI want KFC and I shall buy KFCā. This food choice is always compounded by budget, compromise, available options, time of the month, etc. People are consciously and constantly negotiating and re-negotiating choices. My heart broke when a Senior member of the project sample pulled me aside mid-project and told me ā¦
āNabeel, Iāve suffered from Type 2 Diabetes for 15 years. At least thats what the doctors told me. They gave me medication and send me away each month. But never before has anyone told me what Diabetes is in a way that I understand. Never before have they taken time to talk with me. But now I have these scientists in my backyard. And they canāt leave until I know my bodyāā¦
Itās necessary to point out that even though this community has an approximate population of 100 000 it only has one superstore that either of us would immediately turn our back on. Most food products are sourced from small kiosks on the corners. Yes, I am still in shock. How and why are the most vulnerable excluded from knowledge and provision of services? An alarm bell rang in my head that I could not ignore since I resigned. Weāve been running projects with a very specific agenda which more often than not in the non-profit sector provides an income and life for the administering organization. The sad truth is peoplesā knowledge and expression are not given the kudos and respect it desperately needs. And in this battle, that may just be our most prize weapon.
Fastforward 8 months and Iāve developed a concept with others (including Infers Group and may own company Interfer) which: 1. aims to bring 3 very different bodies of knowledge together in a participatory, collaborative and egalitarian process; 2. forge relationships between these traditionally-deemed exclusive fields, i.e. arts and science and; 3. test organic and participatory processes to create events and arts installations that extends this knowlege to a broader audience in a fun interactive means.
Now. Back to my current mini-projectā¦
I have recently collaborated with the University of Cape Townās Swallowing the World project which is a curatorial project focused on the lived experience of TB. My team of graffiti artists and I joined the festival, set up 2.5 x 2.5m canvas in the middle of campus and contributed to this project on International TB Day. As the focus of the fest was on Destigmatization, we followed suit and allowed interaction between the audience and ourselves to influence or define the artpiece. A short video of our work:
This project will be installed in South Africa, India and Botswana simultaneously and attempts to use culturally- and community-sensitve street art forms. As such, we are holding participatory principles as central to the success of the project as we would like to design the project trajectory, outcomes and art installations/events with all participants. You may be thinking that no Funder finds this ideal. Alas, weāre all wrong! We have had alot of interaction with a potential funder who chose to view the testing phase on UCT in livetime. This live time viewing feature of our project is something we would want to function very much like Edgeryders as it allows for collaborations and creativity between individuals and entities that may not traditionally interact.
This leaves me at your feet as Iād love feedback, interaction and potentially consider collaborations with not only this project but others moving forward. Iād love to work in varying contexts and establish relationships between and across scientists, community members and artists from varying countries. This will be my next step. Apart from the actual arts installations and events, as products, we will be developing a best practices publication focused on the entire project in each 3 countries. I will also carry my āresearcherā hat for the duration of this project as I wish to study: the interaction; immediate knowledge transfer between scientists, community members and artists; retained knowledge and overall impact. I would openly accept any suggestions or feedbackā¦
For now I continue on my mission to test community- sensitive and -relevant means of expression and trying to find ways of using those tried and tested methods as communication tools. After all, what we want are healthier , expressive and inclusive communities whether you choose to define that territorially or otherwise. Only together can we progressā¦
