{"id":644160,"date":"2024-11-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-shadow-scholars-director-eloise-king-on-diving-into-the-essay-writing-industry-in-kenya-and-using-ai-to-protect-people\/"},"modified":"2024-11-14T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T09:00:00","slug":"the-shadow-scholars-director-eloise-king-on-diving-into-the-essay-writing-industry-in-kenya-and-using-ai-to-protect-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-shadow-scholars-director-eloise-king-on-diving-into-the-essay-writing-industry-in-kenya-and-using-ai-to-protect-people\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u2018The Shadow Scholars\u2019 Director Eloise King on Diving Into the Essay-Writing Industry in Kenya and Using AI to Protect People"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tEloise King\u2019s documentary The Shadow Scholars<\/em> takes a deep dive into a multilayered, complex topic: \u201ca\u00a0twilight academic industry\u201d that has often been covered only from a very specific perspective. Filmed across three continents, the Film4 movie, being sold by Dogwoof, includes British writer and director\u00a0Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave<\/em>, Blitz<\/em>) among its executive producers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori travel<\/a>s to Kenya, she uncovers the murky, multi-billion global underworld of essay-writing,\u201d reads a synopsis. Kingori is not just anyone; she is the youngest female Black professor in the 925-year history of the University of Oxford. \u201cThousands of young and highly educated Kenyans \u2013 overqualified and chronically underemployed \u2013 have found lucrative work writing essays for students around the globe who are able and willing to pay for them,\u201d the synopsis continues. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a complex portrait of an issue that undermines the foundations of a pillar of humanity: education,\u201d said the London festival. The film also contrasts how smart young Kenyans work in an underground economy that supports others\u2019 success abroad while depriving Africans.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Shadow Scholars<\/em>, from production firms Lammas Park and White Teeth Films, got its world premiere at the recent BFI London Film Festival where it earned a special mention in the documentary competition. It is now featured in the Frontlight section of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) where it will get its first screening on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n\tKing recently talked to THR<\/em>\u2018s Georg Szalai about her debut feature doc, how she decided to find out about the \u201cshadow scholars,\u201d using AI technology<\/a> to protect key participants in the film, and taking. holistic app<\/a>roach to her work.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Shadow Scholars<\/em> taught me some surprising facts and data points, such as estimates that 40,000-plus Kenyans earn their living with essay writing. But it also felt that I learned about the people doing this hard academic work. How important was it for you to also tell this human side?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely crucial. It\u2019s central to my style of storytelling. I\u2019m really people first, issue second. It\u2019s often a really powerful way to tell any story. Because if you go for a microcosm, or the people who are at the heart, they are often a reflection of the society and the context that we live in. <\/p>\n

\n\tWe were also just incredibly lucky. Patricia Kingori was never going to be in the film. We were making the film as a collaborative partnership for almost two years before she became part of the process, and we\u2019re really glad she did. We shot during COVID, and the first year, we could travel to Kenya. And then in 2021, the travel bans came in, which meant that we couldn\u2019t go to Kenya at all. At that point, I was really worried, but Patricia happened to get the incredible accolade of being the youngest woman of color to be given a full professorship. That rise in her own professional life also gave rise to a confidence. And I said: \u201cI really think that you need to be part of the story. You\u2019ve come from Kenya.\u201d And she really embraced that.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m always interested in having a holistic view. So we weren\u2019t interested in just leaving the students out. Having their voices we felt was really important all, and all of the different academics who\u2019d been working in this area. I think that helped to really show just how many people are connected through this web. Hopefully, it then reflects to our audiences that actually we are, in some ways, either complicit or at least allows people to understand the way in which these complex systems implicate all of us and bring us all in.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tProfessor Patricia Kingori in \u2018The Shadow Scholars\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Dogwoof<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tI have long wanted to travel to Kenya, so seeing Nairobi and the people living there was really interesting to me, especially because it was different from what you sometimes see about Africa. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHaving people talk about or sometimes just show us their lives is a really powerful way to understand what\u2019s happening. We see them in their homes, the way they\u2019re working. I didn\u2019t have a different perspective of Kenya or Nairobi. That was the truth of what I was seeing. And so when I compare that to maybe some other depictions of Africa, it feels really different. But I didn\u2019t have to work to give a different representation of those people and their lives, because that\u2019s what was happening. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you come away feeling about these super-smart essay writers you met and interviewed on camera?<\/strong> And how did you decide not to try to point fingers a la \u201cthese are the good people and those are the bad\u201d people in this underground industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s this completely sophisticated but unregulated industry. And the more that I understood that, the more I understood that against the backdrop of all of the adversity and the challenges they face, they are the architects of their own financial, economic, and ideological liberation.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn terms of no good guys versus bad guys. Patricia and I, from the beginning, had no interest in vilifying even people in the Global North, such as the students. I think what we were clear about was that there\u2019s a broken social<\/a> contract for everyone who appears in the film. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you first meet the people in Kenya who are featured in the film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe went on this trip to Kenya, and we essentially met, on the first day, Chege who ended up being in the film. And it was really clear really quickly that not only was he incredible, and the things he was saying were just blowing our minds, for example in terms of the scale of work that they were doing, but he was also the person who opened the door to the community for us. He was a really important conduit for us. Also, as we went through the process, he was the person who would organize these town halls that we would have frequently to elicit feedback. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we had our first-ever meeting with a number of scholars, they researched us. So when we turned up, they were like: \u201cWe know who she is, Professor Patricia Kingori.\u201d She is quite a hero in Kenya. People really respect the work that she\u2019s done. And for myself, they were like: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen what you\u2019ve done before, so maybe that will let you tell our story.\u201d And that\u2019s how it began.<\/p>\n

\n\tI still find myself reading up and researching things mentioned in your film\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThank you so much for saying that. We put an incredible amount of time and work and research into it. And what we really wanted was this foundation of journalistic and research integrity to do credit to the writers and also Patricia who inhabit this world in a very real way. But I think it just was clear that it wasn\u2019t something that allowed you to have a single thought. Many students go to universities because we\u2019ve been told, \u201cif you go to university, you\u2019ll get a good job and life will be better.\u201d And in America, people are paying and getting into debt. And here, it is increasingly the same. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tEloise King<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Dogwoof<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAnd I think, for the first time in history, there is a surplus of educated people who can\u2019t get the jobs that we thought that university was going to provide. And so the film hopefully brings people into that understanding that the students who are in Kenya aren\u2019t a million miles away, in some instances, from students who are in the Global North.<\/p>\n

\n\tPatricia says it in the film: If Kenyans can\u2019t get jobs that are well enough paid and they end up doing work for other people, then what is the value of education? We\u2019re not saying that education is not worth doing. We\u2019re just trying to question some of the ideas about meritocracy. And we really hope that the film prompts people to question who\u2019s really in the shadow here.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s that bigger message that we need a broader debate about education\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the Kenyan writers, Mercy, talks about it in the film. She was at the top of her class. Especially in Kenya, some of these places are sponsored by churches or others in the community, so when they get to go to university, it\u2019s a really big deal. And to come out of that and to feel that it isn\u2019t being honored I think is also a really big deal. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe protests in Kenya that have been the biggest in many, many years, which are the Gen Z protests, as they\u2019re being called, are exactly about this. One of the things they are complaining about is tax hikes around access to digital media and digital products. So we felt really fortunate to be able to tell the story at this moment. We got contacted by a couple of people who said the film feels like a precursor to what\u2019s happening in Kenya right now. This doesn\u2019t feel like a story that\u2019s just talking about the past. It\u2019s talking about a really future-facing thing, which is: where do all of these educated people who have access to technology go? But also, how could the government do more to support their ambitions and income?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe beginning of the film mentions that it uses AI technology to make sure that essay writers we see and hear from in the film are not easily recognized. Tell me a bit about this decision to use AI for defensive purposes since we so often write about people\u2019s hopes and worries about AI!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAI is obviously part of the story of essay writing insofar as people are trying to use things like ChatGPT instead of the writers. As the film shows, the writers are still having to humanize work. And so the human mind is capable of much more, at this point at least, than ChatGPT. As such, technology feels like this invisible character connecting everyone in the film.<\/p>\n

But being able to use technology in order to protect the writers just felt so right. To have the opportunity to do that, and to be able to work so closely with people who are talented enough to make things come to life was really great.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Shadow Scholars\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Dogwoof<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tYou saw that they were slightly blurred. I hope that having this digital footprint serves as a reminder that not only do these people need to be protected, but also that actually there\u2019s a barrier between us and them. And it\u2019s frustrating that it\u2019s stopping them from being able to really claim the recognition that they deserve. <\/p>\n

\n\tI think using technology for good is really exciting. Because it\u2019s really easy to be afraid of new and exciting developments, but in this case, it gave us really truthful testimony, and we kept a lot of the emotion, but fundamentally, they were protected. My thoughts about AI are that like maybe with all things, it depends on who\u2019s using it and if they are using it right. If the idea behind it and the intention behind it is to create something that has a positive benefit for society, then that\u2019s an amazing thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow important is it for you to bring such authentic stories from Africa to a broader audience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tTelling stories from Africa and across the Black diaspora is really central. The global majority deserves to have stories told that are nuanced and complex and that allow them to see themselves, perhaps, exactly as they see themselves.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe worked so closely with so many production companies in Kenya, which were really supportive of us. For the bits that we did in Kenya, seeking consultation and working really closely with other production teams on the ground, that collaboration was really important. And to your point, that allows the storytelling to feel authentic. I couldn\u2019t tell a story as a Kenyan, because I\u2019m not, but there is the authenticity of allowing people to direct their own narratives within the film and constantly consulting with them about what they thought was important for us to know. What the writers wanted us to know, what Patricia felt was important, what the other academics and the bookshop owner we show thought was important. Hearing all of these different perspectives hopefully allows us to understand that Africa isn\u2019t a monolith. There isn\u2019t one voice. It\u2019s made up of multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Shadow Scholars\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Dogwoof<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAny future film projects you can talk about yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI have started working on another documentary. It\u2019s probably a little bit too early to announce. But I\u2019m excited about it because it\u2019s about archives, music. Again, it\u2019s really about an untold story, but slightly different formally. So I\u2019m quite excited about it. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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