Our Photovoice journey: An act of exhausting bravery

Our paper brings you more than just “lessons learned,” instead, we show you how fears are deeply embedded in the political statements that our photographs attempt to visualize.  These fears, however, are interlaced by hope, conviction, strength and the belief that our voices, as U.S. Latinas, are needed to frame those political statements.

Initially, the North Portland HEAL Photovoice project hoped to use photographs to understand the everyday lives of Latino immigrant families in North Portland, however, we ran with the project and used photographs to bring forth our voices (which are either submerged or obscured by institutional practices that claim to speak for us). In short, we wanted to make a political statement about U.S. Latinas as creators of knowledge.

Political statements, however, bring out doubts and forces mujeres have to be brave.  The work that you see in these pages, while brave, is also extremely exhausting.  We write about the need to speak up in order to enact change but also write about the fear that often mutes the voices of women of color.   We fear that our experiential knowledge as Latinas could be swept aside. During the project we also came to realize how the many forms of oppression that operate at every level of society, especially in those the institutions that we participate in, could affect how we participated in this project. Finally, we feared that there would be limits to how much change our photographs could make in our communities.

This article is not a manual. It is just one way that one can use participatory action approaches to truly and sincerely give voice to those in our communities.  Our modification of the Photovoice methodology, which we dubbed as Mujerista Photovoice, is an invitation to challenge the way we do methods so we can make more visible the remaining work that needs to be done.

We look forward to continuing this discussion with you! Please offer comments or questions!

Angie Pamela Mejia, Olivia Quiroz, Yolanda Morales, Ruth Ponce, Graciela Limon Chavez, and Elizabeth Olivera y Torre

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AR and Qualitative Research - The Welcoming of Photovoice

This week I had attended the 22nd Annual Ethnographic & Qualitative Research Conference, which is why my post is a few days late.  The conference has me reflecting on many areas of research and publication such as generalizabilty, limitations, and the intersection of theory and research. I definitely have my wheels turning about future research possibilities.  And while I enjoyed the conference, I could not help but think how different the conversation would be with more action researchers in attendance.  Though Greenwood and Levin (2007) state that AR is not qualitative research – it is clear that the influence is there for both areas. There were people at the conference who are doing AR and are not using that label.  Others had never heard of AR and it was moments of learning.  I presented a poster on photovoice and was happy with the energy and reception of the method.  It is a process that I have truly enjoyed.  Photovoice continually provides moments of learning and knowledge generation.  It is filled with magical moments of connection, transformation, and understanding.  As I wrote in my last post, I used photovoice in my class this quarter.  The students and I spent the last two weeks analyzing the photos…I am anxiously waiting to see who signed consent forms to allow their photos to be used in further analysis and dissemination – and to work with me in that process.  Through the analysis process in class it energized me even more about the process.  I hope to move into first person reflection with photovoice and to incorporate it into my diversity classes, similar to Chio and Fandt’s (2007) usage of it.  Do you have a success stories with photovoice?  Or challenges?  I would love to hear from you…please comment to share your stories…  

Theory and Practice - The Apprentice

  
Having completed my dissertation and graduating in June, naturally I am looking at what is next for me in my life journey.  I admit, I have no idea what lays before me.  I have searched for some glimmer of the future but never seem to have a clear picture.  Times like this, I often turn to tools that may give me some insight into my current situation.  I may meditate, write in a journal, and look for repeating “signs” in my daily life.    An image/concept I have seen a few times now is the “apprentice.” I have taken notice of this image, but I have been confused about how the apprentice relates to me at this time. 

     Yesterday, while teaching my Women and Religion class, the image of the apprentice made sense to me.  We discussed creativity in relationship to feminist spirituality.  I had my students do a quasi-photovoice project.  They paired up and walked around the university looking for an object or a scene that represented their understanding and experience of creativity.  All of my students had camera phones to take pictures.  I did not have a plan on how to share the photos – I thought we might huddle around and look at each other’s phones.  When it came time to discuss, I thought out loud about putting someone’s phone on the document projector to show the pictures.  My students said they could just email me their pictures from their phones…GENIUS!!!!! So students emailed their photos, and I projected them on the screen through the computer.  Not only were the students technologically wise, the words and images they produced were profound and transformative.  They brought the concepts of creativity and spirituality to life with image and words.

     So what does this have to do with being an apprentice and action research?  Yesterday in class reminded me that even though I am the facilitator of the classroom experience, I continuously learn from the people around me.  The class was better yesterday because my students took ownership of creating knowledge and of our technological needs to create a place for sharing.  When I looked at the apprentice image, I had forgotten to look at in relationship to all of my roles, the people around me, and my experience of action research. 

     Action research welcomes me into the role of being and doing, continuously learning my trade – whatever that may be.  The apprentice challenges me to continue to learn and grow in community.  An apprentice is not an isolated individual – but a person that works with others.  I am thankful that I took notice of the “sign.”  I am now playing with the idea of how to be an apprentice and a master at the same time.  A paradox that honors the hard work and knowledge I have generated and the experience of continuing to learn and grow from community – in all of its formations.  

Community Health- Beth Miller

Hi My name is Beth Miller. I am a doctoral candidate in Health Promotion & Education at the University of Cincinnati. My area of concentration is nutrition and physical activity. I have spent years as a clinical and community dietitian and in wellness/health promotion in corporations and communities. I became involved in action research through coursework at the University of Cincinnati. It was only then that I made the connection between AR and Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and have been a fan ever since.I have been involved in CBPR projects with Harmony Garden (http://www.hgarden.org/) and at the University of Cincinnati. I locate myself as an Action Researcher within CBPR. The connection to people through this type of collaborative research is rewarding and fulfilling. My interests in both wellness and action research were joined in my photovoice dissertation looking at stress in teens. I look forward to additional research in CBPR related to the effect of environmental and policy changes on determinants of health in communities. I will be facilitating the community health discussion with Deb Dole and Bernie Young. I look forward to our discussions!