Franke Global Leadership Initiative (GLI) Oral Presentations
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Holly Riley
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Davidson Honors College
Abstract / Artist's Statement
The study explores the relational character of human interactions with the Clark Fork watershed in order to better understand the watershed’s contemporary issues, history, and to provide recommendations towards improving human-river interactions. Through a multi-media film project, we highlight the voices of those whose lives have been influenced by the Clark Fork watershed and analyze a collection of writings about the Clark Fork watershed from the past two centuries. Our project is an experiment in ecocentric storytelling (Erten 2008); we aim to support greater local awareness of the Clark Fork’s importance and contribute to community knowledge about opportunities to support the watershed’s sustainability.
In this presentation, we discuss our methods, background research, and processes in creating the short film, including our recruitment outreach and film artistry as we center the Clark Fork river and its tributaries as the main characters of our film. Through publicly hosting this film on a website (www.StoriesFromTheClarkFork.com) and partnering with community organizations such as the Clark Fork Coalition for promotion, we hope to raise awareness about the ongoing livelihoods impacted by degradation of the Clark Fork River and will encourage restoration on individual and community levels. This engaging visual medium may motivate our local community to take action, and serve as a centralized media resource to foster connection between the community and the land around them. Through interviews from a variety of local stakeholders, we hope to get a well-rounded representation of the community that uses the river and the ways they have been impacted by the systematic degradation of the river. This film will give a sense of the greater community throughout the Clark Fork Watershed empowering people to protect this river.
Category
Franke Global Leadership Initiative
Stories From the Clark Fork: Empowering Community Watershed Advocacy through a Multi-Media Film Project
UC 220
The study explores the relational character of human interactions with the Clark Fork watershed in order to better understand the watershed’s contemporary issues, history, and to provide recommendations towards improving human-river interactions. Through a multi-media film project, we highlight the voices of those whose lives have been influenced by the Clark Fork watershed and analyze a collection of writings about the Clark Fork watershed from the past two centuries. Our project is an experiment in ecocentric storytelling (Erten 2008); we aim to support greater local awareness of the Clark Fork’s importance and contribute to community knowledge about opportunities to support the watershed’s sustainability.
In this presentation, we discuss our methods, background research, and processes in creating the short film, including our recruitment outreach and film artistry as we center the Clark Fork river and its tributaries as the main characters of our film. Through publicly hosting this film on a website (www.StoriesFromTheClarkFork.com) and partnering with community organizations such as the Clark Fork Coalition for promotion, we hope to raise awareness about the ongoing livelihoods impacted by degradation of the Clark Fork River and will encourage restoration on individual and community levels. This engaging visual medium may motivate our local community to take action, and serve as a centralized media resource to foster connection between the community and the land around them. Through interviews from a variety of local stakeholders, we hope to get a well-rounded representation of the community that uses the river and the ways they have been impacted by the systematic degradation of the river. This film will give a sense of the greater community throughout the Clark Fork Watershed empowering people to protect this river.