Sharing a Photovoice Experience:
Ethics, Methodological Concerns,
& Opportunities
April 10, 2009
SLED
Candace Kuby
Sarah Vander Zanden
(crkuby@indiana.edu)
(svanderz@umail.iu.edu)
Outline
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Photovoice theoretical underpinnings
History of our work with Photovoice
Emerging ethical dilemmas
Discussion of (Non)Representational Logic
Photovoice aims to:
1) enable people to record and reflect their
community's strengths and concerns
2) promote critical dialogue and enhance
knowledge about issues through group
discussions of the photographs
3)inform policy makers
http://www.sph.umich.edu/yvpc/projects/photovoice/
Theoretical Underpinnings
• Freire-raising critical consciousness
• Feminist methodology- collective dialogue,
power accrues to those who have voice, set
language, and participate in decisions
• Community photo documentary/Participatory
action research (PAR) - activist photography
Photovoice: Related Researchers
• Dr. Caroline Wang, School of Public Health, MI
• Dr. Mary Ann Burris, Michigan
• Wendy Ewald, North Carolina
Sampling of Projects
Examples:
• Youth Violence Project, Flint, MI
• Displaced youth reclaiming identity, Columbia
• Mental Health initiatives- Michigan
• Civic action, women’s initiative-Yunnan
Province, China
History of our work…
Y650 Feminist methodology Photovoice project
NCTE 2008, whole day workshop with educators
-electronic communication and support for
various projects
OSU-Expanding Literacies
-workshop discussing ethical dilemmas
SLED-peer feedback
NCTE 2009, panel sharing various Photovoice
projects with teachers
The Art Show
Opening
NCTE Research Experience
• How do educators navigate their daily
experiences in the current educational
climate?
• Group of NCTE educators from various U.S.
cities and Australia (12 people)
• We envisioned a photovoice project – instead
participants had other ideas.
• Wetpaint site & joint gmail account
• Plans to present together at NCTE
Ethical Dilemmas
• How do we share the experience of
participants in traditional publication formats?
– Technology/gaze, fluidity/stability
• How do we communicate cohesion?
– Laughter, transformational moments, etc.
• Who is privileged?
– Selection of photos, transcripts shared, stories,
etc.
Dilemmas cont.
• What happens when goals differ?
– NCTE group project vs. individual adaptations
• How do we meet academic demands when
participants have other needs?
– Publishing as a collective, as researchers, etc.
Representational Logic
“Representational logic over-emphasizes stability,
structure, and repetition and underemphasizes
the change, diversity, and innovation that are part
of literacy in use” (Leander & Rowe, 2006, p.
432).
• Focus on meaning
– Sameness, themes, stable frames of reference,
difference is surprising, break in the “frame”
(Goffman)
Nonrepresentational Logic
“Nonrepresentational logic …carries with it the
assumption that literacy in use necessarily
involves students generating new ways of
connecting texts, modalities, and performed
identities” (Leander & Rowe, 2006, 432).
• Focus is on experience, performance is not
seen as stable, embraces differences and
fluidity
Example Research Questions
Representational
Nonrepresentational
• What do the photos mean?
• What are the themes from
the photos/discussion?
• What was the
photographer’s intention?
• What dynamic relationships of
bodies, texts, photos, and
spaces are being formed as
the performance (small group
discussion/public forum)
unfolds?
• What effects do these
dynamic relationships have on
the Photovoice participants
and policy makers?
• Where does this dialogue
appear to be moving?
We invite you to
join in the
conversation…