Generation Animation: Making Animated Films to Explore the UNICEF Rights of the Child.

The aim of this Screenworks publication is to analyse specific animated content developed through the Generation Animation project. The Generation Animation project is an example of what Sandmann et al. call “engaged scholarship”. (Sandmann et al., 2008) “This focus on engagement as a core value of the university reflects a fundamental epistemological position underlying the shift in the locus of education to include the community.” (Sandmann et al., 2008) In order to facilitate community engagement a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology was used. (See Fals Borda, 1995, Mulroy, 2004, Pool, 2018 and Wakeford and Sanchez Rodriquez, 2018) This approach facilitated a voice for the children through their media practice. PAR promotes unheard voices by challenging traditional hierarchies of knowledge. (See JMPE paper). In Generation Animation the children were empowered to share their understanding of the UNICEF Rights of the Child. They were allowed freedom to explore their rights from script to screen, supported by undergraduate students. The animation work developed is situated knowledge - an onscreen representation of how the children understand their rights. In this paper I will present a textual analysis to scrutinise specific animated content and draw together wider thematic conclusions from the children’s media practice.