Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments/DEI research 2022/Final report/Learnings

Inclusivity and community identity

Wiki Loves Monuments is a competition that was born in the global north. Its structural base was created keeping in mind the cultural, economic and political requirements of developed countries. While consistent efforts have been made to shift this bias and be inclusive of experiences from the global south, there still remains a lot of ground to be covered.

As highlighted in the interim report, many countries struggle with the colonial gaze of official heritage lists and subsequent exclusion of under-represented communities from them. National organisers from different countries have, however, tried to work around this issue by using lists curated by non-government organisations in the heritage sector and mobilising local people to build pressure on their municipal councils to add their monuments to the official list.

We generally ask local people to reach out to municipal councils to add their heritage to the list. - Brazil

Despite these efforts, there remains a sense of dissatisfaction among some national organisers regarding the current monument definition used by WLM. They feel that limiting the definition of monuments to ‘built heritage’ tends to highlight the colonial understanding of monuments that does not make room for indigenous heritage. This in turn dampens motivation among local communities to participate in the photography competition and hampers inclusivity.

It would, however, be incorrect to assume that the issue of non-inclusive official heritage lists is pertinent only in the global south. National heritage lists in many western countries have similar issues of exclusion and non-recognition of marginalised communities. There have been initiatives to overcome this by some national organisers. However, they were presented with a new set of difficulties while implementing these initiatives.

The theme of photographing sacred places was introduced to address the inclusion of Saami people and sites in the (heritage) list... However, the community was not comfortable having some of their sacred places photographed. - Finland

Experiences such as the above then require introspection into our approaches to inclusion, especially in the case of indigenous cultural sites. This would include addressing the question of how we remain respectful of their concerns about privacy and appropriation while documenting and sharing their knowledge. This is especially important as the WLM competition relates to the public domain and is an open data source, which may make their sacred sites more susceptible to ‘intrusion’ by enthusiastic photographers. Hence, hosting an open dialogue between Wikimedians and local indigenous communities about their views on inclusivity and knowledge sharing could be one effective way of finding a suitable way around this issue.

To summarise, to think of inclusivity is to think from the lens of those not included or the marginalised. Our strategies of inclusion need to be developed keeping in mind what the community needs, rather than what we think they may need.

Shifting the Photographer's gaze

One of Wiki Loves Monuments’ main aims is to document cultural knowledge related monuments across the world through photographs. However, since it is a photography competition, aesthetics of the monument and quality of the photograph are prioritised by the participants and jury.

Many of the (built) structures are not well preserved… they are not as good looking as the natural heritage… So people try not to take pictures of it. - Venezuela

There is very little incentive to document other monuments (apart from popular tourist destinations). - Croatia

Participants generally tend to gravitate towards photographing ‘good looking’ monuments, in other words those that are well maintained by the government and are popular tourist destinations. This is due to the belief among participants that photographing such monuments will give them a better shot at winning the competition. This results in lack of documentation of monuments belonging to marginalised communities as they are less likely to be protected and are susceptible to deterioration due to lack of government action.

We have introduced special prize categories to encourage participants to photograph , such as ‘best photograph in every sub-region’, ‘best photo of Jewish heritage’, etc. - Ukraine

Documenting these monuments then not only promotes inclusive representation in the competition, but also provides space to initiate conversation, between local communities and cultural heritage institutions, on the importance of preserving these sites. For example, WLM organisers in Ukraine shared how introducing special photo categories not only helped them document monuments that are at risk of destruction, but also helped raise enough awareness to help previously ignored monuments get listed on the official heritage lists.

To add to this, encouraging participants to take photos of monuments when they are being used in different ways, such as during festivals and other community activities or while being reclaimed through the act of demolition or repurposing, might help bring in the added layer to its story. Such photographs help capture the essence of the heritage site and the complicated relationship that people share with it.

Gender matters

Gendered experiences play a key role in shaping our world views and perspective towards our immediate surroundings. This is especially visible in the ways in which we interact with culture and heritage spaces.

For instance, monuments located in remote areas away from urban centres generally go unphotographed due to higher cost of travel or due to concerns of safety. The latter is a deterrent especially for female photographers, who may then prefer either visiting the monument as part of a group or during day time. On the other hand, women may not have access to certain spaces in a monument, like a functioning religious space, due to gender based segregation of space which would dictate the aspects of the monument they can photograph.¹ This way gender adds a new dimension not just to documentation, but also photography. Hence, the monuments that the photographer ends up photographing, the specific aspects of the site that are photographed, and the time of day the photograph was taken all speak of the gender experience. These intricacies of how people experience and relate to the space then adds to the layers of storytelling and knowledge on the Wikipedia platform.

However, this situation may vary from country to country. Same or similar gender based restrictions may not play out in each participating country. That being said, WLM organisers need to take cognisance of the fact that gendered barriers may present themself in different forms and it is important to be mindful of these barriers in order to make the competition more equitable. Thus, it becomes pertinent to work towards ensuring inclusive gender representation across various processes of the competition.

Including more women in organising WLM builds faith and motivates more participation from women in the country. - Uganda

To begin with, it is crucial to take diversity of gender into account during forming the organising team for the competition. As pointed out in the quote above, having people from the same gender as you in the organising team may make you feel seen and give you hope that your perspectives and experiences will be taken into account.

As a woman in the movement, for me these kinds of acknowledgements (the female perspective in our projects) is even more powerful when they come from my male colleagues. It makes me feel supported, and it makes me feel like I have allies that highlight this importance and see beyond their own gender-related perspective. - Ciell, WLM-international

However, having people from different genders on the team alone will not help. To make the competition more equitable we also need to keep in mind that certain genders may, given their identity, be at a disadvantage of accessing the required resources to participate in the competition. For example, organisers from Brazil and Uganda shared how, compared to men, women in the country tend to have more difficulty accessing resources such as cameras and internet which are basic needs to be able to participate in a digital photography competition like WLM. This would then require a more focused attempt at bridging the access gap between genders and make WLM more equitable. These could be in the form of organised photowalks, budgeted resource and travel grants and so on.

With this being said, it is also critical to emphasise the need to look beyond the gender binary while working towards gender inclusion. The LGBTQI+ community has been mostly under-represented and sidelined in the writing of history and their heritage often deemed unimportant. Getting people from the community involved in organising the competition in their country, and including their monuments in the national and international level competitions will help us create a more tolerant and inclusive space for everyone.

Language and Communication

Language plays an integral part in communicating ideas, needs and sharing knowledge. Not being able to access information in your own language can hamper both the ability to understand the task at hand but also limit your engagement with the larger campaign. In other words, it limits diverse participation from countries with non-native English speakers.

There has been communication (from WLM-i) but the problem is language barrier… sometimes it is difficult to translate the text into Spanish. - Venezuela

These gaps in linguistic communication can be easily addressed by increasing translation of campaign documents and resources in local language.² However, one important thing to keep in mind while working with translation is that words sometimes take on a different meaning in a different language and cultural context.

The participants are confused with the term "monuments" which pertain to the typical structures in public squares. - Philippines

Local communities and organisers may relate to and identify with a different word under the same theme. It helps to keep these complexities of language in mind while designing communication strategies across linguistic regions.

Notes

1.^ Such issues of access may not be specific to gender. Class, social standing, race, disability, etc., may add to the same.

2.^ The WLM international team has secured a grant to initiate translation of selected WLM campaign documents into 12 world languages and hopes to keep working on reducing the language barrier.

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