Resumen
Orality, textuality, and visuality play vital roles in creating ontological spaces, maintaining traditions, consolidating identities, and mobilizing resources for both individual and community development (Hernández-Ochoa \& González-Orjuela, 2017; Plaisir, 2010; Ulmer \& Paine, 2011). With the emergence of new technologies, Haiti finds itself at a critical intersection to potentially capitalize on these expressive, discursive, and dialogical tools for societal transformation. However, various barriers– interpersonal, institutional, and sociocultural– pose significant challenges to harnessing the full potential of these tools. Therefore, this presentation discusses the dynamic interplay between traditional oral practices, textual communication, and visual media in Haiti using the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to examine the dialectical and transformative dimensions embedded in the interconnections between individuals, their cultural and historical environments, and the communicative activities in which they are engaged. First, this presentation explores the multifaceted role of orality, textuality, and visuality in community engagement and knowledge transmission, as well as their impact on community cohesion, identity formation, and resistance/resilience of cultural heritage. Second, as technology penetrates the everyday lives of Haitian communities– both in Haiti and abroad–, the critical perspective adopted in this project addresses the potential tensions and contradictions that arise as orality, textuality, and visuality intersect within the Haitian context under the influences of digitalized, incentivized, and highly interactive platforms facilitated by the web 2.0., while paying close attention to uneven power dynamics within these communication modalities. Lastly, this presentation contributes to a broader understanding of the transformative capacities of orality, textuality, and visuality in community development initiatives in Haiti. By recognizing and valuing the diversity of communication practices, it is necessary to empower and advocate for the inclusion and representation of traditionally marginalized voices, cultural expressions, and local knowledge systems in all translocal and glocalized processes of community transformation.
Palabras Clave (separar con comas)
Communication modalities, technology, orality, community transformation