Connecting The Peaces: Working To Make The World A Better Place – The Encompass Journey of Understanding

Author

Alison Sara Kurtzman, Syracuse University

Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-1-2012

Capstone Advisor

Professor Hubert Brown, Broadcast Journalism Professor

Honors Reader

Professor Frank Currier, Broadcast Journalism Professor

Capstone Major

Broadcast and Digital Journalism

Capstone College

Public Communications

Audio/Visual Component

yes

Audio/Visual Location

Honors Library

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Creative

Subject Categories

Broadcast and Video Studies | Communication | Film and Media Studies | Journalism Studies | Social Influence and Political Communication

Abstract

On October 12, 2002, the Indonesian island of Bali experienced the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history. 202 people were killed when a bomb was detonated outside of a nightclub in the tourist city of Kuta. Among those killed was Daniel Braden, a young British man who was in Bali for a rugby tournament. Daniel’s parents believed that the attack happened because the majority of people in the nightclub were white and therefore viewed as “the enemy.” They believed that if young people had the opportunity to meet and speak with people different from themselves a lot of terrorist attacks could be stopped. From this thought The Bradens created the Encompass Journey of Understanding. Twice a year six young adults from the United States, six from Great Britain, and four each from Indonesia, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories are brought to an outdoor adventure camp in Great Britain for a week to participate in outdoor bonding activities and intense discussions.

For her Capstone project, Alison Kurtzman, a senior Broadcast Journalism and Psychology dual major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and College of Arts and Sciences, was a participant in the Fall 2010 Encompass Journey of Understanding. While participating in the program she brought a video camera and filmed over thirty hours of footage comprised of the outdoor activities, discussions, and interviews with both participants and facilitators. She then returned to the United States and began to edit together the raw footage into a documentary titled Connecting The Peaces: Working To Make The World A Better Place – The Encompass Journey of Understanding.

The fifteen-minute documentary focuses on two of the participants who had the most divergent views: Meron, an Israeli, and Luma, a Palestinian. While following Meron, Luma, and the other participants, the documentary aims to make viewers think about some of the major issues facing our world today and tries to discover where some of the most common misconceptions of other cultures come from. In addition to the documentary, a production blog was also made that contained insights from Alison, as well as photographs, teasers, and extra footage that didn’t make the documentary.

I sincerely hope that after watching Connecting The Peaces you will have a new perspective about some of the major conflicts affecting the world today and perhaps even leave with a bit more hope for the future.

Recommended Citation

Kurtzman, Alison Sara, "Connecting The Peaces: Working To Make The World A Better Place – The Encompass Journey of Understanding" (2012). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 120.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/120

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