Five Go To Mozambique

A film about how design students develop intercultural competencies for professional practice and global citizenship.

Graphic design education in Higher Education may be considered to be vocational and focused on teaching a highly technical, particularly digital skill-based curriculum. In a highly competitive HE environment where there are many courses offering an industry focus and attractive employability prospects, graphic design pedagogy has to look for something different to deliver to students that will make them standout from the crowd.

The aim of this project was to develop student intercultural competencies using critical approaches to global consumerism through a cultural learning experience in Africa, a continent where the inequalities of global capitalism are most acute. Using student interviews this film provides evidence of the student perspective and analyses how graphic design students participated and negotiated the implementation of local live projects.

A class of 3rd Year BDes Graphic Design students from Edinburgh Napier University were invited to work on two briefs for NGO projects in Mozambique, both aimed to socially, economically and culturally invigorate the community around Mossuril, a poor coastal town. In June 2014 five students were chosen by portfolio selection to travel to rural Mozambique to work alongside local students and in the process they developed shared working practices to create branding materials and publicity.

In a post-colonial context cultural naiveties can be challenged and an appreciation of the historical and economic impact of global consumerism can be engendered. Global citizenship can be fostered through live projects that offer highly motivated learning and sharing of ideas and practices with people from different cultures.

• https://vimeo.com/133320372