Children and their own land: building connections through reporting

Abstract

This paper focuses on the journalism workshops held in Ussita (Italy) during the 2019’s winter.
The workshops were aimed at children and they involved local kids from 5 to 10 years old. This project was a part of the data collection for the doctoral research program “Growing up informed”. The method involved participants observation, field recording, written and drawn material. Ussita is one of the towns wrecked by the earthquakes of 2016. We chose this place because the research program focuses also on media education as a mean to develop territorial awareness. Territorial awareness may be crucial after an earthquake, for it is one of the features that create resilience. The main teaching activity was about explaining to children how to make interviews, matching a previous format we studied in 2018. They made interviews in different locations and situations. They were able to meet a photographer, a biologist (Ussita is part of a National Park), a member of a local association. The children also visited several old people in their emergency homes to interview them. We organized a follow up in April in which they had to interview some local adults about a traditional festival that was about to be held. The group managed to interview these people, even if the context was slightly different, showing they remembered what they have learned. The results show how children managed to tackle a variety of local topic (nature, history, problems, opportunity) by interviewing people and how the activity affected their local awareness in this sensitive moment.