By Twine Bananuka Although it is commonly held that a picture - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

By Twine Bananuka

 Although it is commonly held that ‘a picture

speaks more than a thousand words’,

 It is equally true that a picture speaks more

about the photographer than the person or image photographed (Silverman, 2005).

 Wade et al (2002) also note that ‘A picture is

worth a thousand lies’

 We have all at one point taken pictures or

used them

 However, how often do we pause to ask;

 as to who took them,  the purpose for which they were taken,  the context in which they were taken and the

intended audience.

 This gives a glimpse of the dilemma that

researchers using photovoice and perhaps

• ther visual methods find themselves in

 It is a participatory technique that involves

facilitating research participants to take and analyze pictures describing their world and practices

 Photovoice serves three major purposes, that is,

enabling people to;

1)

Record and represent their everyday realities;

2)

Promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community strengths and concerns;

3)

Reach policymakers

The photovoice exploration reported

in this paper was part of a larger case study of Emesco Development Foundation (EDF), an indigenous NGO focused

• n

community development work.

The study was conducted in Buyanja

county, Kibaale district, in mid- western Uganda.

 Photovoice was used with one group of the

population, i.e. Community Development Workers (CDWs) as;

 a means of giving them an opportunity to tell

their story and have their voices heard through photographic evidence

 It was also adopted because it aligns very well

with the critical theory paradigm adopted for this study

Participant pseudonym Sex Age Highest level

• f education

Role in EDF Community Teruth F 61 Primary 4 TBA Kiduukule Nsemba F 32 Primary 7 CHW Kiduukule Iruku M 30 Certificate CRP Kiduukule Balifaijo M 36 Senior 4 CRP Kiduukule Noreda F 52 Senior 2 CHW Busesa B Poskali M 68 Primary 7 CHW Lukindo

1.

The issue of power relations and vulnerability.

 Power relations  Vulnerability and the right of minors/children.  The hows and the process of publishing

photographs

 The anonymity clause

• 2. The use of money to facilitate

photovoice research

• 3. The use and handling of the camera
• 4. The control over ethical procedure

by the Principal Researcher

 Noreda (pseudonym);

I first took this photo of a mother who had just delivered … however when her husband later arrived, she told him about the

• photograph. He also said ‘please

take mine too with my baby’. I then took his photograph carrying the baby.

 IRUKU (pseudonym)

 … after getting his permission to take his photograph

as he worked on his blacksmith job, he objected that I do not also take the picture of his house, well knowing the poor condition in which it was. However, I later asked somebody else to go and take the picture for me because I felt it would be an interesting case to the study…

 PI/Facilitator; But this is against our agreed position

• f not taking pictures without permission …. Laughter

… (picture was not included in the selection and participants were told why)... and they concurred).

A TBA examining an expectant mother; Although the TBA was my research participant/co-researcher, she passed

• ver her camera to her son to take her

photograph in action

Does permission/consent from parents morally bind the children?

A community meeting chaired by a local leader on community service

A TBA standing in the background giving postnatal lessons to mother before immunizing the children

A young couple with a newly born baby with the assistance of A TBA/research participant

Unemployed young men gambling on the roadside in the morning, instead of engaging in productive work

 Appeal to human conscience and reasoning  The protection of human dignity  Carefully interrogating research participants

• n the ethical procedures followed on each

photograph presented to the group

 Constantly being in touch with participants

throughout the process rather than waiting to carry out an audit at the end of the process

 Categorization of photographs in terms into

levels of publication

 The argument advanced in this paper is that

it takes more than written rules and standards set by Ethical Boards & Committees to deal with issues related to ethics of photovoice research

 Human judgement and the desire to protect

human dignity remains key to photovoice ethics, although this standard can be abused

 Acknowledgements

1) Dr. Vaughn

John, University

• f KwaZulu-

Natal, South Africa

2) Prof. Budd Hall,

University of Victoria, Canada