Practice-led research: Home video and the autobiographical self

Abstract This article explores the place of personal testimony against broader political landscapes of official histories and narratives. It looks at family archive as a curated record of the autobiographical self and the enduring political value of the everyday. I reflect on my creative arts Ph.D. where I made a documentary exploring personal history and memory. The film, comprised predominantly of my own home video footage, is set against the backdrop of the political situation in Southern Africa during the 1980s and 1990s, when my twin brother and I were born in Zimbabwe and then returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the African National Congress. Home video is employed as a methodological instrument to explore a theoretical landscape where I have located my mode of practice as an autoethnographic. This article analyses how the film provided an objective anchor for my deeply personal entry into filmmaking and academia.