The Quipu: Living Documentary website has linked old and new technologies to allow web users to listen to voices from Peru’s hard to reach communities.
The team worked with those in rural communities affected by the sterilisation campaign to develop a communication system that enables them to speak up and share their stories.
Inspired by the Quipu - an Inca communication system made of knotted threads - the project has created a string of oral histories, fusing web technology with the radio and mobile phone technology available in the Peruvian Andes, to enable people to record their personal testimonies, listen to the experiences of others in their community and region, and share their stories with the rest of the world.
It’s one of six innovative projects being premiered at the REACT Showcase: Future Documentary screening at Watershed in Bristol, where industry experts will join the public for a panel discussion about the ‘interactive documentary’ experience.
The Quipu project is a collaboration between University of Bristol researchers Dr Matthew Brown and Dr Karen Tucker and media company Chaka Studio, which received £50,000 funding as part of REACT Future Documentary Sandbox – an AHRC-funded initiative to encourage new forms of storytelling exploring the documentary format, arts and humanities research and digital technologies.
The Peruvian state has never taken responsibility for the forced sterilisation programme and the associated human rights violations it involved. Despite hopes that the legal case against ex-President Fujimori and the ministers responsible for programme would be re-opened in 2014, in January of this year the case was archived for the fifth time.
- The Quipu project will be showcased at the Watershed, Bristol, on Wednesday 19 March as part of the REACT Showcase: Future Documentary, beginning at 4pm. Booking is required.