My mission is to work collaboratively with grassroots groups of African AIDS activists in ways that strengthen their capacity to fight the virus, while teaching Williams students about HIV/AIDS, grassroots activism, and the challenges and possibilities of cross-cultural work in African contexts.
I am using video because it is a direct and powerful means of communication, and can be produced at a high level for low costs. Videos shot by African activists to tell their own stories can be radically different than those shot by outsiders, empowering them in their advocacy and sensitization work as well as fundraising. This website showcases the videos to help disseminate them more effectively across countries, helping groups to learn from each other’s experiences.
My collaborative research model creates a partnership between Williams students, Ugandan students from Makerere University, and Ugandan AIDS activists. I train groups of Williams and Ugandan students to do Time Use Surveys and other kinds of fieldwork. They then work in the field together, learning from each other and gathering data that serves the needs of grassroots AIDS activists.