Reflecting on the Oxford Human Rights Festival I

The next two blog entries are reflections on the 15^th Oxford Human Rights Festival by two of the students who organized it in March. First, we hear from Aiysha Whitfield, a final year student on the BA in Film, Media and Communications.

Ken Loach with Dean Paul Inman and members of the student organizing committee. Aiysha Whitfield is fourth from the left.

The Oxford Human Rights Festival (OXHRF) was the best part of my final year experience. I didn’t really know what the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) does but after having worked with their students on the festival now I do. I was extremely impressed with CENDEP’s unique and diverse range of studies, from disaster management to human rights. The CENDEP students’ work ethic behind the scenes of the festival motivated me to do my best.

As a film and media student, the festival gave me the opportunity to use the skills I have gained through the last three years of undergrad. The festival gave me the satisfaction of helping to promote a wider understanding of the state of human rights around the world, from homelessness in the UK to the refugee crisis.

The OXHRF experience has opened the door to many opportunities for me. Not only did it expose me to various causes and organisations but working on the Festival has improved my CV. I have been able to apply to a wide range of jobs because of the practical skills I learned throughout the six months of festival. As well as improving my CV, it also helped me get on the MA course in Media and Communications.

The festival has many perks. I was able to meet Ken Loach, a film legend, and spend some time talking to him about social issues and the film industry. I think it is important for me to say that if anybody wants great hands on experience with human rights then this is the festival for you. It does not matter what department you are from, everybody brings their own knowledge to the table. I just want to thank CENDEP and its students for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your festival and welcoming me onto the team.

CENDEP Open House

Cathrine Brun writes:

On 14 March 2017, the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice welcomes everyone who wants to learn more about our work and meet staff and students to join us for CENDEP Open House. The event takes place in the Atrium of the Abercrombie building at Oxford Brookes Headington Campus from 2.30 pm till 5.30pm. CENDEP Open House coincides with the opening of the Oxford Human Rights Festival, which is run by our masters students in Development and Emergency Practice together with students from International Relations, Film Studies, and Business and Marketing Management.

The programme for CENDEP Open House is:

2.30 – 3.30: Presentations on CENDEP’s work: our research, masters programmes and other activities

3.30 – 4.30: Informal mingling to meet staff and students around posters that present our work.

4.30: Presentation on Emergency Shelter exhibit by representative from the organisation Shelterbox (that has kindly lent us a shelter for the festival)

4.30: Joint reception and opening of the Festival, including talks by some of the artists exhibiting their work in the Festival Exhibition

This event concludes with the opening film of the festival, winner of the BAFTA award for best film this year,  I, Daniel Blake directed by Ken Loach. We are very honoured to have Ken Loach with us to discuss the film after the screening.

The Oxford Human Rights Festival has ‘Home’ as its theme this year. ‘Home’ is a topic that brings together much of CENDEP’s research and teaching which concentrates on Shelter after Disaster; Forced migration and Human Rights; Humanitarian Action and Conflict; and Development, Risk and Disasters. Experiences and notions of home are strongest when the home is under threat or lost. Much of CENDEP’s work circles around experiences of loss and uncertainty. Through our work we show the resilience that many people show in adversity. We have conducted research that shows – even in the most difficult of circumstances - how home-making takes place in recovery after disasters and conflicts and during displacement in temporary dwellings such as in refugee camps.

Much of our work concentrate on the Global South, but CENDEP also work on precarious housing and marginalization in our home environment. The film I, Daniel Blake helps us to understand the constraints people may face in their lives when they need to seek assistance. We have shown in our research that the humanitarian system or a social benefits system that many victims of disasters, conflict and poverty have to relate to, may, if not working well and adapting to the local context, prevent you from creating a future for yourself. Consequently, we also work on what humanitarian workers and policy makers do and can do in disaster and conflict settings and for creating social change. If you join us for the CENDEP Open House, you will be able to hear more about our work and see the festival-exhibition on ‘Home’ in the Glass Tank and in the atrium.

We will also present our study programmes: our on-campus, prize winning Masters in Development and Emergency Practice, our newly established online Masters in Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding  run together with United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and our Postgraduate Certificate in Shelter after Disaster, in addition to a presentation about our doctoral studies.

Welcome to Oxford Brookes on 14 March from 2.30 pm. 

Human Rights Festival focuses on Home

Clare Dickson writes:

Oxford Brookes University will next month play host to the 15^th annual Oxford Human Rights Festival, around the central theme of Home. The festival highlights issues such as the refugee crisis, housing crisis, indigenous rights, and homelessness to answer the question “What does Home mean to you?”

This year our opening night sees BAFTA winning Director Ken Loach presenting I, Daniel Blake (2016), a hard hitting insight into homelessness in the UK. Other highlights include our partnership screening with the Oxford Brookes Documentary Club, which this year is Queens of Syria (2014) followed by a Q&A with producer Georgina Paget. A screening of Rent Rebels, highlighting problems and resistance in the rental sector in Berlin, Germany, is followed by a talk by the filmmakers. Freedom from Torture will give a performance of their Write to Life: Lost and Found project which gives a voice to refugees who have arrived in this country and invites them to share their stories of fleeing terror and creating new homes here. On closing night we will be screening Jake Gavin's acclaimed film Hector (2015), which tells the heartbreaking and inspiring story of a homeless man's journey to reconnect with his family, and also have an audience Q&A with the director. 

The centre piece of the festival is the HOME exhibition, showcasing an emergency shelter provided by humanitarian organisation ShelterBox. The exhibition is also set to include photographs by Sea of Humanity, who have worked in Europe with refugees and now run the Khora project in Athens. There will also be original artwork by Iranian Mani Darjazi and Afghani Said Habib Sadat, who have fled their homelands to find a safe haven in London, and Manchester based Syrian artist Jo Scorah, who all interpret the theme of home through their paintings and sculptures. 

As a student on the MA Development and Emergency Practice programme myself, the themes and messages of the festival are particularly relevant to me, with the majority of the committee coming from the same course. We have worked alongside students in Film Studies, International Relations, and Marketing Management undergraduate courses, as well as the MArchD Architecture course, to bring the festival together. We believe human rights concern everyone and together we aim to raise awareness of human rights issues through storytelling and arts.

Harry Tuke, an MArchD student and member of the 2017 festival committee, put it perfectly when describing what this year's theme means to him personally:

I got involved with the Human Rights Festival as I was interested to see how film and arts could be used to communicate important issues to the Oxford community. The theme ‘Home’ is particularly relevant now looking at homelessness, the refugee crisis and housing crisis that are such huge issues right now. Equally it was a very interesting question of what is ‘Home’ and the right to a home, especially as I’m studying architecture and Social/Humanitarian studies.

Another member of the committee Barbara Dirrheimer, an undergraduate in Marketing Management, said:

I have always been interested in human rights and spreading awareness for issues like inequality. In the situation the world is in right now I feel even more strongly that everyone needs to speak up about their beliefs which is why I'm so excited to be a part of OXHRF 2017. Spreading awareness especially in such an international and diverse environment like Oxford Brookes University feels like the perfect setting. It is amazing to help give the chance to organisations to talk about their daily work in trying to provide people with homes, whether it's in the UK, Europe or in refugee camps around the world. Everyone should listen to those stories!

The Festival has provided an opportunity for us to explore artistic representations of the theme of Home in many different forms. We are looking forward to seeing how the choices we have made come together and sharing these key messages with the Oxford community during the Festival.

The Oxford Human Rights Festival will take place from Tuesday 14th to Saturday 18th March at the Oxford Brookes Headington campus. The programme will feature screenings along with Q&A sessions with the directors and producers, performances and an exhibition in the Glass Tank. To guarantee your place please book your free tickets at http://oxfordhumanrightsfestival.eventbrite.com/. More information and full programme of events can be found at www.oxfordhumanrightsfestival.net and www.facebook.com/oxfordhumanrightsfestival