The decision to write regarding the relationship between the Hakani docudrama and its use as a source of status quo revitalization was reached from several angles at once. My familiarity with Brazil and its peoples was obviously a large factor in that decision. More important, however, was a period of research, previously concluded, into aspects of colonialism and post-colonialism, which involved the study of several important theorists such as Gayatri Spivak, Edward Said and Homi Bhabha. The other aspect of this study was taken from Jean Baudrillard’s theories of textual reality. The purpose of which was to problematize the traditional concept of what is "real." According to Baudrillard reality is itself that which is always already reproduced.
The study then followed two concerns: first, that of unmasking Hakani’s discourses located in a space constitutive of engagement and signification -- an ideal location for the altering of structures of recognizability, and, second, that of intertextuality and critical engagement with the text. My first attempt was to make sense of the research as it was being developed and to format the research as a standard academic thesis. The more research I did though, regarding the film the more I realized I would have to move to a different strategy. Because I wanted to critically engage with the film in a creative way, and because my intention was to extend the breadth and depth of knowledge concerning its situatedness I would have to move to a more creative approach.
The final outcome was that of a creative intensive, investigative blog where hypertext was used as a tool for exploration and relationship building, moving the writing from text to context. The ultimate goal was to recontextualize the film by disclosing its rhetoric and form of implementation, building on intertextuality and relations as well as conceptual mapping. The aim was to touch on the cultural, socio-political and historical contexts of the film through a detailed discourse and analytic study, filling the gaps of narrative that were initially avoided by the filmmaker.
The three methodological approaches used were integrated with three theoretical engagements. The first methodological approach was a strand of the Actor-Network theory or “material–semiotic” method -- mapping the relations between things and between concepts and relating different elements together into a network (Appendix A).
The second approach was a dialectical-relational approach integrated with an intertextual analysis. The third approach was used to stress the importance of the interrelationship of signs (Appendix B). The semiotic notion of intertextuality was used to refer to the film as text in terms of connecting Hakani’s filmmaker and viewer, and connecting the film to other texts (Appendices B and C). In the intertextual analysis, first, the correlation was made with a historical text used in a previous study of comparative colonialism and then the connection was made by way of genre, studying what influenced Hakani’s filmmaker.
As an intensive investigative approach the study consisted of getting acquainted with the Hakani film. This included breaking the film down in to second by second frames. Additionally, because I did not know the film well, I found it impossible to plan all the phases of the investigation exactly. Initially it was difficult to decide which facts were to be collected, so, I decided to map the relationships and concepts surrounding the film. The process was based on the studying of the film from several different viewpoints, established first from a practical point of view but later connected to scientific methods used by other scholars. The process thus resembled a spiral which got me gradually to the point of developing my own view regarding Hakani’s situatedness.
The other important factor regarding the work had to do with the way it was going to be presented. Having already made the decision of finding a place online to situate the text, to move it from text to context and to allow people to do an easy Google search, I researched the way in which social networking is set up on the worldwide web. Various sites that talk about social networking pointed to the blog as the foundation for social networks. The blog could then be connected to facebook and twitter as well as other sites. To make it possible for people to access the work whenever they wanted – including at 2 am on a Sunday morning, the blog would be the best fit because it did not require any intervention from my part and also because apart from twitter it received the highest amount of traffic.
Recontextualizing Hakani is a compillation of scholarly essays on that encompass a historical and critical analysis of the Hakani film. Each essay examines a different aspect of the film as a social and cultural phenomenon. Designed for both film viewers and academic readers, the essays are international in scope of subject matter and eclectic in terms of approach and perspective. Recontextualizing Hakani offers a new perspective within the theory and philosophy of cultural studies and visual media.
MISSÃO: O VENENO LENTO E LETAL DOS SURUWAHÁ
Missão - O Veneno Lento e Letal Dos Suruwahá
Petition online
Paving the Road to Hell
