Using photography in research with young migrants: addressing questions of visibility, movement and personal spaces (original) (raw)
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2021
This paper aims at discussing the value of researcher-generated visual methods in studying migration. It focuses on photography as a data collection method, and the problem is presented in the context of researching urban and rural arenas of exercising transnational belonging by migrants and their descendants in new and ancestral homelands. Photography is approached here as a sensorial experience mediating a relationship between the researcher and the participants. The author argues that the relationships occurring around photo-taking in the field are as important as the data collected intentionally. Moreover, the chapter discusses ethical questions prompted by the employment of visual methods, problematizing them in a context of different social, cultural and national settings. With this chapter, the author attempts to answer a question whether researcher-generated visual data can open new angles of analyses of migrants’ life-words and how the employment of visual methods can infl...
Ethics and Integrity in Visual Research Methods (Advances in Research Ethics and Integrity, Vol. 5). (pp. 153-170). Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited. , 2020
Photography is used in research because of its appeal for communicating, expressing feelings, sharing experiences, raising new awareness of participants and potential audiences, clarifying social issues, and framing plans for action. Taking and sharing photos has become easier particularly because of ready access to devices with cameras. Yet, using photographs in research can undermine anonymity and confidentiality (Noland, 2006), and unanticipated unau-thorised dissemination of digital images raises ethical concerns for researchers using photography in their research methods (Brigham, Baillie Abidi, & Calatayud, 2018). In this chapter, the authors discuss the participatory photography method and provide practical suggestions for carrying out ethical research using participatory photography. The authors highlight the cultural, social, and contextual situatedness of ethics by drawing on our own research project with youth with refugee experience.
Qualitative Research in Education, 2013
This article reflects on the use of participant photography as a methodological component of a qualitative research study into student intercultural relations in four secondary schools in Spain. Forty boys and girls took part and we selected over 400 photographs they had taken. The article draws attention to the importance of student ‘voices’ to show the interaction processes and the value of participatory photography as an approach that encourages their participation beyond the traditional interviews and field observations. The results acknowledge the value of photography to reflect the relationships among adolescents. However, while the experiment was positively rated by the participants, the study recognises the risks taken and the achievements, constraints, dilemmas and difficulties encountered by the investigators carrying out the research.
Without a Safety Net: Participatory Techniques in Research with Young Migrants
nottinghameducationalenterprises. …
Researching children, and migrant children in particular, means having to strive to redress the imbalance of power that comes from the highly vulnerable position of the participants. The need to protect children from physical and psychological harm signifies that adults, in most societies, make the ultimate choice regarding children's participation in activities, while children's dependent position may mean that they do not feel free to refuse an adult's request for collaboration however strongly their freedom to choose is stressed. Researchers need to recognise the imperfections of a relationship that is necessarily unequal, rather than trusting specific techniques to solve these contradictions through their inherent power. Participatory techniques may help children's voices to come through more powerfully by leaving more space for individual styles of interaction and by opening more channels for expression; they cannot be relied on, however, to act as an infallible tool-kit to redress a power imbalance. The strengths and weaknesses of a multiple-technique approach (focus groups, child-led photography and individual interviews) used to collect data in Italy and Ghana are discussed in relation to the aims of the research, the age group of the participants, and the different geographical and social contexts.
Open House International, 2019
This paper examines young people's ‘lived' experience of urban spaces in Accra, the capital of Ghana, by focusing on the use of auto-photography as an appropriate method for this investigation. Accra has a very young population and low rates of employment among the young people, demographics that are often associated with societal instability and increased risk of civil conflict. Research into African youth and the urban spaces they occupy is scarce and involves real challenges, but it is necessary and urgent due to various issues of exclusion and identity. This paper reports part of a larger phenomenological study on the spatial exclusion of youth in Accra's urban spaces. The theoretical framework builds on Lefebvrian dialectics of space and focuses on how notions of belonging and exclusion are reflected in the mode of ‘lived space'. The fieldwork was completed on a small sample of young people in two distinct neighborhoods of Accra. In essence, the focus of the pap...
Children's agency in research: Does photography empower participants?
Chapter 9 in Smyth, G. and Santoro, N (Eds) Methodologies for Researching Cultural Diversity in Education, 2014
"The choice of child-led photography for data collection is usually grounded in a rationale aimed at involving children in the process as competent actors, in order for research to be ‘with’ children rather than ‘on’ children (James, 2007). As technical equipment has become more widely available, photography has grown increasingly popular in research with participants of all ages (Pink, 2003; Banks, 2007). Predominantly employed in the context of qualitative research, this technique is often chosen in studies that involve young participants, as it is expected to reveal the world as ‘seen through the eyes of children’ (Banks, 2007: 5). This is particularly desirable given that young people’s interests and points of view are often ignored, or have a secondary role. The unequal power relations that characterize adult–child interactions can be replicated in the researcher–participant encounter, as young people are used to complying with adults’ requests. This can be especially noticeable when research is conducted in an institution such as a school, where young people are expected to behave according to rules determined and enforced by adults (Morgan et al., 2002). Several authors (Punch, 2002; Langevang, 2007; Clark, 2010; Oh, 2012) propose that the adoption of participatory techniques can help to redress the power imbalance and give children an active role in the research process. Through photography children can be engaged directly in the data collection and thus involved as co-researchers and knowledge-makers. The chapter outlines the aims of the study discussed and highlights issues of agency and power inequalities that commonly arise in research with young participants. It discusses the difficulties faced when analysing visual data and the dynamics and processes that influence children’s choices of subject when using a camera in a research context. The positive aspects of the technique are considered and suggestions made regarding ways to maximise its potential. My decision to concentrate primarily on the challenges of photography for data collection does not reflect a value assessment of the technique. I aim instead to redress a tendency to focus primarily on the benefits, and to ensure that both advantages and potential issues are openly acknowledged and discussed, to allow photography to be chosen in full awareness of its value as a tool for research."
Open House International, Volume 44, Issue 1, March 2019, 2019
van Riel, K., & Salama, A. M. (2019). Using auto-photography to explore young people's belonging and exclusion in urban spaces in Accra, Ghana. Open House International, 44(1), 62-70. _______________________ This paper examines young people’s ‘lived’ experience of urban spaces in Accra, the capital of Ghana, by focusing on the use of auto-photography as an appropriate method for this investigation. Accra has a very young population and low rates of employment among the young people, demographics that are often associated with societal instability and increased risk of civil conflict. Research into African youth and the urban spaces they occupy is scarce and involves real challenges, but it is necessary and urgent due to various issues of exclusion and identity. This paper reports part of a larger phenomenological study on the spatial exclusion of youth in Accra’s urban spaces. The theoretical framework builds on Lefebvrian dialectics of space and focuses on how notions of belonging and exclusion are reflected in the mode of ‘lived space’. The fieldwork was completed on a small sample of young people in two distinct neighborhoods of Accra. In essence, the focus of the paper is on the urban spaces occupied by young people and on the utility of the participatory research tool adopted, auto-photography. In this context, the tool is less intrusive than direct observation and therefore well equipped to allow an ‘insider’ view into personal experiences and perceptions of place that are otherwise difficult to access and study. The paper concludes with a call for urban professionals and decision makers to produce inclusive urban environments that cater for all while for differences and belonging to co-exist.
This article uses the importance of visual culture in contemporary society to investigate how images can be used as a tool for reflection and empower- ment for young people from social exclusion backgrounds. The participatory research-action project Olhares em Foco (Glances in Focus) reflects on how photography-based visuality can produce individual and collective change based on the personal perspectives and experiences of youth groups (Marshall & Shepard, 2006). We draw extensively on the theories proposed by Paulo Freire (1970), which underlie the perception that each individual produces culture and critical thinking to reflect on his/her daily problems. In the Olhares em Foco project, participatory photography was explored as a major element of identity representation and re- flection among three groups of young people from social exclusion backgrounds in both Brazil and Portugal. Methodologically, the present work is based on the use of participatory pho- tography (Clover, 2006; Prins, 2010; Singhal, Harter, Chitnis & Sharma, 2007), and on an approach inspired by some elements of the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology (Schensul, Berg, Schensul & Sydlo, 2004; Cam- marota, 2007). However, the research was structured around the concepts of the Photovoice method (Wang, 2006). Created in the 1990s by researchers Caroline Wang and Mary Ann Burris (Wang & Burris, 1997), the “voice” in Photovoice stands for Voicing Our Individual and Collective Experience. The “voice” has been used during discussions, aiming to stimulate the participants “to reflect on their own living conditions, and also to share their own experiences” (Palibroda, Krieg, Murdock & Havelock, 2009, p.6).
From There to Here: Using Photography to Explore Perspectives of Resettled Refugee Youth
International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2012
Because refugee numbers are much smaller than those of other immigrant populations in the United States, researchers frequently group refugees with other immigrants in their studies. However, due to the traumatic circumstances that most refugees face prior to their arrival, they require separate consideration. We chose the medium of photography to help newcomer refugee students express themselves beyond their current capacities in English, and we used the students' photographs as catalysts to interview them about their resettled lives in the United States. Through this process, we discovered themes central to the students' lives, and ways in which they were working to reconcile important past and present elements, such as family, friends, cultures, and aspirations. Bronfenbrenner's (1986) ecological theory provides a useful frame for exploring these students' processes of acculturation. Their photos, and their commentaries, provide critically important information for teachers, social service providers, and others working with refugee youth.