Me and the world: A methodological exploration of university students’ perspectives on global issues through cellphilms

University students in the 2020s – Generation Z – have grown up with technology and seen the world shrink around them. They have been exposed to global issues on a scale and with a frequency that is unprecedented. However, except in relation to the climate crisis, there is little in the literature to help understand Gen Z students’ perspectives on global issues. This article reports on a pilot study of visual participatory methods workshops about global issues with 50 students at two universities in Kazakhstan. Students in Kazakhstan have diverse positionalities, which was the starting point to explore their perspectives on global issues. Spatially, they are within the geography of the ex-Soviet space but connected to the world; temporally, they are one of the first generations never to have experienced Soviet rule firsthand yet who continue to live with its imprints. Nevertheless, the issues that most concern Kazakhstani students are similar to those of their global peers: war and conflict, and environmental issues. Students made cellphilms (short informational videos) about pollution, global warming, vandalism, cyber fraud, corruption, ethnic discrimination, and gender inequality. The process of cellphilming helped students think through global issues as they relate to their local environments. Visual participatory methods offer important opportunities for students not only to make sense of global issues but also to contend with the anxieties and concerns that these global issues present. Students’ agency could be increased through using participatory visual methods, responsibly incorporating social media in the classroom, and through open discussion on global issues.