Zulfiya Hamzaki

Thesis

Thesis

Representing migrant women’s day-to-day integration experiences in the UK through interactive documentary

• Supervisor: Jonathan Hook and Marta Herrero

My PhD is investigating how interactive documentary (i-Doc) can be a way to represent the day-to-day integration experiences of migrant women in the UK. The research is developing from an understanding of the inadequate visual representation of migrants in the media where mainstream media’s harmful tropes can lead to stereotyping of migrants. In Britain, although women asylum seekers and refugees make up a third of the refugee migrant population, they “remain largely invisible within refugee communities” (Allwood and Wadia, 2010, p.171). Literature evidences a lack of the moving image and sound as an applied research method that can frame the conditions and motivations that shape the everyday lived realities of migrants (Grossman and O’ Brien, 2007). I propose documentary film as a site of resistance, drawing upon the particular qualities of the i-Doc with its potential to democratise narrative space and challenge dominant media forms. Through creative practice, my PhD will adopt ethnographic and co-creative methodologies to collaboratively work with migrant women, considering the forms, methods, application and challenges of adopting the i-Doc as a research process and site of self-expression. The research aims to demonstrate the value of film in creating knowledge about marginalised peoples' lived experiences, offering a new form of engagement between migrant women and the public, whose encounters in the ethnoscape can critically shape integration outcomes. References: Allwood, G. and Wadia, K. (2010). Refugee women in Britain and France. Manchester University Press. Grossman, A. & O’ Brien, A. (2007). Projecting Migration: Transcultural Documentary Practice. Wallflower Press, London and New York.

Biography

Biography

Zulfiya is a documentary filmmaker and practice-based researcher. Her doctoral research is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH). For her MSc by Research in Interactive Media funded by XR-Stories, she led the interactive documentary project "Your Heritage, Your Story" with the Council for British Archaeology (CBA), looking at how digital storytelling can help achieve inclusivity in archaeology and heritage through a practice-based, co-creative project with immigrants in the UK.

She has contributed to the research project “Negotiating Neutrality: Designing a Responsive Video to Support Fertility Preservation Decision-making by Cancer-diagnosed Young Female Patients” which won the best paper award at the ACM IMX International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences held in Sweden in June 2024. Her independent documentary films have explored immigrant stories in the USA, native American issues and refugee resettlement in California’s Bay area. Her documentary “Crossing Borders” was picked up by UK based global documentary streaming platform True Story, and Means TV, a US-based streaming service. Her films have screened on cable TV in Multnomah County Oregon, at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival, Seattle Asian American Film Festival, New Filmmakers Los Angeles and the 14th IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival in New Delhi.

Her previous experience includes working with non-profit organisations on video projects relating to gender, sexuality, rural journalism, disability, education, environment and social design. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, USA, and a Master of Arts (MA) in Media and Communications (Audio-Visual Production) from Symbiosis International University, India.

Research

Research Interests

Documentary filmmaking, interactive documentary (i-doc), non-linear storytelling, migrant women's experiences, integration, human rights, research by creative practice, visual ethnography, inter-disciplinary research

External activity

External activity

• Presented “Reversing the Heritage Gaze: How interactive documentary storytelling can facilitate non-profit participation and fundraising” for the "Creative Explorations" panel at the Critical Research PGR Conference, York St John University, UK, July 2022
• Presented “How interactive documentary can facilitate non-profit participation and fundraising” for the “Digital Storytelling” panel at the Digital Creativity, Industry and Culture (DCIC) conference, University of York, UK, September 2022
• Selected to present “Reversing the Heritage Gaze: How interactive documentary storytelling can facilitate non- profit participation and fundraising” at the Contemporary History and Archaeology in Theory (CHAT) conference for the theme “Decolonize Archaeology” in Lisbon, Portugal, November 2022
• Co-presented with Dr Marta Herrero and Dr Jonathan Hook a seminar on “Reversing the heritage gaze in the non-profit sector: Promoting an IDE (Inclusion, Diversity and Equity) agenda for public engagement and fundraising with interactive documentary; a collaboration with the Council for British Archaeology, UK” as part of the "Art, Culture and Entrepreneurship" seminar series at the University of Linnaeus, Sweden, November 2022
• Presented “Your Heritage, Your Story” for the "Inclusive Futures" panel at the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) Conference with CBA’s Dr Claire Corkill, Nottingham, UK, April 2023
• Exhibited “Your Heritage, Your Story” at the Interactive Media showcase, University of York, UK, June 2023
• Presented “Your Heritage, Your Story” as part of the “Evolving Society” theme at the 2023 York Festival of Ideas with a panel discussion, York, UK, June 2023
• Selected to present “Your Heritage, Your Story” at the Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts (DRHA) Conference, Turin, Italy, September 2023
• Panel discussion as part of the event “Reimagining Heritage: Immersive, Interactive Technologies & Storytelling” organised by York-based theatre company Four Wheel Drive, Guildhall, York, 17 February 2024
• Presented at the Nordic TAG 2024 Conference, for the panel “Take a walk on the wild side or why should we be creative in archaeology?”, University of Turku, Finland, 7 March 2024
• Presented at the Academy of Live Technology International Symposium 2024 as part of the Heritage panel at Production Park, West Yorkshire, UK, 16 April 2024
• Co-author of “Negotiating Neutrality: Designing a Responsive Video to Support Fertility Preservation Decision-making by Cancer-diagnosed Young Female Patients”
Manni, S., Phillips, B., Hamzaki, Z., Jamal, S., Hook, J. D. 2024. Negotiating Neutrality: Designing a Responsive Video to Support Fertility Preservation Decision-making by Cancer-diagnosed Young Female Patients. In Proceedings of the IMX International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences. ACM.
This paper received the Best Paper Award at the ACM IMX International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences in June 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden.