My name is Catherine Zambrano, and I am an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts. My areas of study include Anthropology and Political Science. My program allows me to study both disciplines and conduct independent research to explore these interests further. I am interested in pursuing research in Anthropology at the graduate level, and throughout my undergraduate degree, my interest in research and academia has increased significantly. This summer, I interned at the Participatory Cultures Lab (PCL) and it was such a wonderful learning experience.
The PCL was established by Professor Claudia Mitchell in 2010 in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at 缅北强奸. I wanted to do this internship because I hoped to gain experience working in a research laboratory environment. Additionally, I wanted to understand new methods of visual and participatory-based research, such as cellphilming. Finally, I was excited to learn from other experienced researchers at the PCL. This organization uses arts-based approaches to collect, analyze and work with research data on an international scale. As an anthropology student, I found their work fascinating because this discipline also employs primarily qualitative research methods. The mission of the PCL, as outlined on their website, states that the PCL is organized around the study and use of visual and other participatory approaches to research and social action and involves the work of collaborators and research students engaged in the study of participatory research鈥he work links to issues of social justice, focusing on such areas as youth sexuality and HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence, food security, and poverty alleviation.
As an intern at the PCL, my responsibilities included creating educational infographics about cellphilming as well as planning and preparing for the two-day Re-visioning Cellphilm Methodologies Virtual Symposium and the 10th 缅北强奸 International Cellphilm Festival. Organizing the cellphilms for these events and providing technical support were important internship responsibilities. After these events, I worked with my co-intern Celine on a report for CODE. This report outlined the PCL's work with cellphilming throughout the festival and the symposium. Moreover, I wrote an article for the Institute for Human Development and Well-being (IHDW) newsletter about the International Cellphilm Festival which I enjoyed putting together. This article incorporated pictures that Celine and I had taken throughout our internship, as well as screenshots from the amazing Cellphilm Festival submissions we received this year.
The IHDW article was something I was very proud of, and it was a highlight of my internship. Another highlight was working alongside Celine. She was wonderful to work with, and I feel so fortunate to have been paired up with her for the duration of this internship. We supported each other and collaborated to get all of our work completed. Finally, I did not know what cellphilming was before this internship, and now I understand what it is, how to do it, and its potential as a methodology. I am inspired to use cellphilming in my research when I begin my graduate studies. This internship had so many highlights and I learned so much through this experience. One challenge I faced was using graphic design software that I was unfamiliar with. However, my co-intern supported me while I learned how to use it, and I now have a new skill which will benefit me in the future! Another challenge was the reports and articles with similar deadlines towards the end of the internship. The workload was quite heavy, but working with my co-intern helped significantly, as we could divide the work and complete it on time.
This internship had an unforgettable impact on my university experience. I had the opportunity to work in a lab that does similar research to what I hope to do myself one day. It was inspiring and showed me that this is something I want to do. I had the opportunity to work with amazing people and learned many skills and new research methods that will help me significantly in my academic future. I will not be receiving academic credit for this internship. I received funding for this internship through the Lev Bukhman Internship Award, and I am so grateful as this funding allowed me to work and live in Montreal for the duration of this internship. This afforded me the opportunity to go to the PCL and work with the team in person. Thank you, Ms. Sokoloff, and Mr. Bukhman, for this award and thank you to the Arts Internship Office and the Participatory Cultures Lab for such a fantastic opportunity.
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