Case Study: Shona Main

Image Credit: Shona Main

Shona Main

Student Development Fund

HEI

PhD Title University of Stirling

The Space between documentarist and subject: the quietly radical ideas and ethics of Jenny Gilbertson

Shona’s research at the University of Stirling looks at documentarian Jenny Gilbertson, the legendary filmmaker whose 1978 programme Jenny’s Arctic Diary saw her embedded in an Inuit community 700 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Shona’s plan was an ambitious one, to follow in the footsteps of Gilbertson and visit the remote community captured in film 40 years ago to see the changes in the community since then. Whilst Grise Ford has undergone significant social and political changes, the settlement is still as isolated as it was when Gilbertson visited. The community has one month of summer, with winter days going by in complete darkness, and the island is only accessible by one airstrip and a supply ship that visits once a year. As well as the challenges of visiting such a remote place, the need to speak in Inukitut was a vital component of the trip. Shona saw the ability to communicate as easily as possible as a central part of both her research and her position as an ethical researcher.

Through the Student Development Fund we were able to support Shona in learning the language. Training took place in Grise Ford where Shona not only learned the language but also got a feel for travel and life at the settlement. Shona subsequently spent 6-months at the settlement, exploring both Gilbertson’s and her own approach to filmmaking.