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Tag: photovoice

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The photovoice methodology as outlined by Wang and Burris in the 1990s rests on 3 pillars - empowerment education, feminist theory, and documentary photography. I'll hopefully come back in another post to talk about that intermingling a bit more but today I'd like to just take a look back to some early documentary photography that raised issues of rural poverty, agricultural life, and the impacts of extreme weather. The photographers that were hired by the Farm Security Administration from 1935-44 produced some of the most enduring images of black and white photography as they travelled amongst America's struggling farmers and sharecroppers. Anyone with more than a passing interest in photography will recognise images like Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother and Walker Evans' portraits of sharecroppers.

Allie Mae Burroughs, wife of cotton sharecropper. Hale County, Alabama. Walker Evans, 1936.

It was not only the portraits of the FSA photographers that are interesting though; they also illuminate elements of a changing agricultural practice. So, in Lange's work we see patterns of furrowing to reduce wind erosion, new harvesting protocols, and the impacts of mechanization on labour requirements.

Furrowing against the wind to check the drift of sand. Dust Bowl, north of Dalhart, Texas. Dorothea Lange, 1938.

My current project here in Vietnam is looking at how photography can be used as a vehicle for scaling climate-smart agriculture; supporting farmers in developing countries to use photography and testimony as a tool to inspire and teach other farmers, and inform the powers that be of the situation on the ground. To western ears it may sound redundant, but smallholder farmers are not typically heard in the debates about policy that affect their lives, despite being among the demographic that is so far most affected by the impacts of climate change.

In the early 1990s, when Wang and Burris implemented the initial 'photo novella', the photographs taken by rural women in Yunnan sparked dialogue and change at policy level; for example, in relation to girls attending school (Wang and Burris, 1994).

Hoeing Corn. Photograph by Li Qiong Fen, Chengjiang County farmer, age 37.
When families must race to finish seasonal cultivating, when their work load is heavy, and when no elders in the family can look after young ones, mothers are forced to bring their babies to the field. China,1992. (Source: Wang and Burris, 1994)

Next week, we'll be training 20 or so farmers in My Loi climate-smart village and Ky Son commune in the basics of camera use, and asking them to document their practice and the challenges they face. The results will be put together for an exhibition a month or so later. It will be an unlikely opportunity for them to take centre-stage and show some of the local climate impacts, as well as adaptive knowledge they have gathered, to their own wider community and influential figures in the province.

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In a recent article on the outcome of a photovoice workshop run in Ma climate-smart village, Bernadette Joven details how the process of the workshop has led to the development of a farmer-led communications group. The group has been formed as a way to disseminate climate-smart agricultural technologies to neighbouring farmers and communities.

Mr. Kien talks to Mr. Cuong, head of DARD in Yen Bai province.
Mr. Tam, leader of Ma Village, explains the context and content of the exhibit.
Photo credit: Bui Le Vinh / CCAFS SEA

Consider the core objectives of a photovoice workshop/process to be those outlined by Wang (1999):

  • To record and reflect the commnity's strengths and concerns
  • To promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community issues through large and small group discussions (of the photographs)
  • To reach policymakers

In light of these, the continuing pro-active engagement of the photovoice group in Ma village seems to have hit the mark.

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Participatory research is touted as a way of completing research 'with' rather than 'about' people. In a 2013 post on the topic, Manon Koningstein mentions that, for participatory video, there are two ways it can happen:

From literature I've reviewed so far in relation to photovoice and participatory video, it seems like the first way is the most common. This raises some important considerations when thinking about true participatory research:

Selection of participants: Who researchers deem to be the appropriate stakeholders in a PAR process can influence the outcome and may not necessarily be representative of the community as a whole. This is a tricky knot to unpick as there is obviously a necessity to engage with the people in a community who are the most willing participants, and who are most likely to build on the experience to become local advocates for the positive methods developed through the PAR process. This is important to remember and reminds us that PAR methods are about Action as much as they are about Research. How to find the sweet spot where the demands of academic rigour are not completely lost to the need for energy and advocacy is something not mentioned in the literature very much.

The second point I'd raise in relation to Koningstein's points above is in relation to channels of communication. If communities are to be genuine contributors to determining research directions, one-off participatory processes are only a first step. When the workshop facilitators pack up the equipment and move back to the office to assess the results, what tools and channels remain open to the community? An exhibition or a screening with policy makers is well and good but once that door is opened, it must remain so. If not, there is a danger that PAR processes become little more than tokenistic attempts at inclusion to suit the demands of researchers. If communities are momentarily empowered with the tools of photography and video, how does the removal of those tools (cameras, laptops, audience) reflect on the overall process? (Removal of cameras and IT equipment with researchers seems normal, yet what agricultural project would introduce a new tool - let's say an improved planter - teach participants the benefits and how to use it, and then take it away again?!)

When thinking about PAR, perhaps we need to reconsider the boundaries of the process such that it does not end with the exhibition and screening. In this regard, the Photovoice project run in Ma Village in Vietnam seems to be exemplary in how it has paved the way for longer term farmer led education and policy input - more info on this here.

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Photovoice is a participatory action research (PAR) strategy that allows the participants in a study process to 'identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique'. The background theory of photovoice as used by its first proponents (Wang and Burris) has roots in feminist theory and critical consciousness, focusing on empowerment, and acknowledgement of the experience and knowledge of the study participants. Documentary photography is a third underpinning and while it remains a valid approach, the use of (participatory) video is also possible and relies on a similar methodology.

In a recent GFAR webinar on Research Communications, Juliet Braslow (CIAT) gave a very interesting presentation on her experience of using participatory video (see embedded video above). The approach she outlines very much concurs with the original photovoice methodology:

  • Participants control the direction of the study and decide how they shall be represented.
  • The learning process (for both participant and researcher) is more important than the finished product.
  • Potential opportunities for action are identified.

In relation to climate change and agriculture, participatory research involving photography or video provides a very rich environment for peer-peer learning, and also for knowledge to be moved against the traditional top-down flow from academia, policy-makers and extension agents to farmers. This is essential if government support and research efforts are to flow to the most locally appropriate agricultural practices: