- By Shaylyn White
We’re in the season of ‘campaigns’, most of them political in nature. Then there’s awareness campaigns, education campaigns, fundraising campaigns, marketing campaigns – campaigns, campaigns, campaigns.
But what, exactly, is a ‘campaign’?
YouTube video essayist Abigail Thorn has a running gag in which she attempts to explain complex philosophical topics by first reading from the dictionary, only for the “definition” to inevitably have nothing to do with the topic itself, instead being nonsense along the lines of “we have stolen your dictionary, send us this ransom if you ever want to see it again.” The joke is that referring to the dictionary is a total cliche, but I can only hope she’ll accept my apology, because I’m about to do exactly that.
When I do, I see that Merriam-Webster defines a campaign as “a connected series of operations designed to bring about a particular result.” Meanwhile, the Cambridge Dictionary defines a campaign as “a planned group of especially political, business, or military activities that are intended to achieve a particular aim.” As for Collins, they define campaigns as “a planned set of activities that people carry out over a period of time in order to achieve something such as social or political change.” What’s key here seems to be connection—that campaigns are a series of activities linked by a pre-defined strategy, with the belief being that said activities will help achieve a goal. But even that’s a little vague, isn’t it? How concrete a strategy does it need to be? How clearly-defined the goal? Could I call the steps I take to eat breakfast in the morning a “campaign”? (If I can, it’s a campaign I often fail at—sorry, Mom.)
These are the kinds of questions that arose while we at STOPs to Violence were trying to figure out the shape of the Enhancing Impact project. We wanted to know more about Saskatchewan’s violence prevention awareness and education campaigns, but the more we dug into it, the more we realized how difficult it was to pinpoint what did or did not count as a campaign versus, say, an education program. Because the first phase of this project involved a survey asking others to share campaigns they knew of or participated in, it was important to cobble together a working definition that would help us establish a common understanding of what was even being asked. This was more of a challenge than I expected, but it was a challenge that proved to be an invaluable learning experience about the way humans actually think versus how it would be convenient for them to think. Because, as it turns out, (and this feels obvious in retrospect), unique lived experiences mean unique frames of reference! People will always bring their own understanding of what’s being asked to any conversation, and part of our role is to meet them halfway, rather than unilaterally impose our own personal idea of what’s “correct.”
Want to see more of what we are learning about violence prevention and awareness campaigns in Saskatchewan? Click here for our summary report.
(PS: Is there a campaign you run or participate in that you don’tsee listed? Reach out to Shaylyn at shaylyn@stopstoviolence.com)