Tunde Alabi-Hundeyin gives an inspirational account of how a PhD can be combined with activism for social change.
In this episode, we interview Tunde, who's PhD world is very different to ours. A photographer initially, he now studies his PhD in the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex. He talks to us about how he works to create a counter-narrative to the objectification of children in the Global South by international media organisations and the charity sector.
"It's true that there is no truth in news, and no news in truth..."
We discuss the photographic representation of disasters such as famine in the global south, the common current narrative, and how this is changing for the better in some organisations. Later in the episode, we talk about the importance of this in the context of immigration. Tunde also tells us about his fieldwork experiences in Nigeria, and how he balances PhD life with family life, while his two kids sleep through the episode in the background!
Tunde Alabi-Hundeyin is a freelance documentary photographer, documentary filmmaker, and media specialist with over 13 years’ experience in media and humanitarian industries in Africa. His passion lies in working with humanitarian organisations to ethically explore narratives that help improve human conditions in marginalised communities.
Tunde's photographic vision lies on an overarching objective of challenging distorted stereotypes about the continent of the sun. His scholarly work, embedded in his recent photo exhibition, Utopia, questions the objectification narratives of children from the Global South as victims of poverty, war, disaster and ill health. Through visual ethnography, photovoice and photo elicitation of displaced Nigerian children by Boko Haram, Utopia seeks to demonstrate a counter-narrative to the flawed representation of an infantalized Africa while promoting ethical images of the distant ‘other’.Â
His work can be accessed via www.tundehundeyin.com or @tundehundeyin on Instagram and Twitter.