Abstract
Photovoice is a visual participatory action research methodology that exemplifies many of the aims of decolonial feminism and community psychology with its attendance to the development of critical consciousness, the situating of participants as experts in their own lives and the aim for the psychological empowerment of participants. However, in most research projects, the participatory dimension of the photovoice process does not extend beyond the stage of public exhibitions. Participants are rarely involved in the academic dissemination of the research findings. In this chapter, we seek to disrupt this, and to provide a reflection on the photovoice process from three varying positions of power within the project: participant, researcher and supervisor. In particular, this chapter examines how decolonial feminist mentorship in community psychology can be enacted and enabled through the lens of a photovoice project based in a psychology department at a university undergoing a contested transformation process. It reflects on how the first author, a young white woman, and the second author, a young black woman, have learned about the process of conducting decolonial feminist work from either side of a photovoice project examining gender and race in higher education, under the supervision and decolonial feminist mentorship of the third author, an established black academic.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
We use the term ‘womxn’ to allow space for individuals who identify as genderfluid, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, or non-binary.
- 2.
RhodesMustFall is a student resistance movement initiated in 2015, which calls for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa.
- 3.
FeesMustFall is a student resistance movement concerned with increased fees at South African universities which further impede black, poor and/or historically disadvantaged students.
- 4.
Cecil John Rhodes was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in the late 1800s. He implemented multiple laws forcing black people off their land. He bequeathed the land on the slopes of Devil’s Peak (the site of the University’s Upper Campus) as the site for UCT and despite being a reviled figure the statue commemorating his memory was displayed at UCT until the RhodesMustFall student protests in 2015 forced its removal.
- 5.
Joy Moodley (as an honours student) and Professor Kopano Ratele of the University of South Africa were involved in various stages of this project.
- 6.
References
Adams, G., Gómez Ordóñez, L., Kurtiş, T., Molina, L. E., & Dobles, I. (2017). Notes on decolonizing psychology: From one special issue to another. South Africa Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 531–541.
Bishop, J., Robillard, L., & Moxley, D. (2013). Linda’s story through photovoice: Achieving independent living with dignity and ingenuity in the face of environmental inequities. Practice, 25(5), 297–315.
Burr, V. (1995). An introduction to social constructionism. London: Routledge.
Burton, M., Kagan, C., & Duckett, P. (2012). Making the psychological political–challenges for community psychology. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 3(4), 1–11.
Castleden, H., Morgan, V. S., & Neimanis, A. (2010). Researchers’ perspectives on collective/community co-authorship in community-based participatory indigenous research. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 5(4), 23–32.
Chonody, J., Ferman, B., Amitrani-Welsh, J., & Martin, T. (2013). Violence through the eyes of youth: A photovoice exploration. Journal of Community Psychology, 41(1), 84–101. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21515.
Coemans, S., Raymakers, A. L., Vandenabeele, J., & Hannes, K. (2017). Evaluating the extent to which social researchers apply feminist and empowerment frameworks in photovoice studies with female participants: A literature review. Qualitative Social Work. Online publication. DOI: 1473325017699263.
Coimbra, J. L., Duckett, P., Fryer, D., Makkawi, I., Menezes, I., Seedat, M., & Walker, C. (2012). Rethinking community psychology: Critical insights. The Australian Community Psychologist, 24(2), 135–142.
Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (Eds.). (2001). Participation: The new tyranny? New York: Zed books.
Cornell, J., & Kessi, S. (2017). Black students’ experiences of transformation at a previously ‘white only’ South African university: A photovoice study. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1882–1899.
Cornell, J., Kessi, S., & Ratele, K. (2018). Dynamics of privilege, identity and resistance at a historically white university: A photovoice study of exclusionary institutional culture. In N. Oke, C. Sonn, & A. Baker (Eds.), Places of Privilege: Interdisciplinary perspectives on identities, change and resistance (pp. 173–193). Dordrecht: Brill Sense Publishers.
Evans-Agnew, R. A., & Rosemberg, M. A. S. (2016). Questioning photovoice research: Whose voice? Qualitative Health Research, 26(8), 1019–1030.
Flicker, S., & Nixon, S. A. (2016). Writing peer-reviewed articles with diverse teams: Considerations for novice scholars conducting community-engaged research. Health Promotion International, 33(1), 152–161.
Foster-Fisherman, P., Nowell, B., Deacon, Z., Nievar, M. A., & McCann, P. (2005). Using methods that matter: The impact of reflection, dialogue and voice. American Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 275–293.
Gokani, R., & Walsh, R. T. (2017). On the historical and conceptual foundations of a community psychology of social transformation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 59(3–4), 284–294.
Heleta, S. (2016). Decolonisation of higher education: Dismantling epistemic violence and eurocentrism in South Africa. Transformation in Higher Education, 1(1), 1–8.
Helman, R., Malherbe, N., & Kaminer, D. (2018). Young people’s reproductions of the ‘father as provider’ discourse: Intersections of race, class, culture and gender within a liberal democracy. Community, Work & Family, 22, 146–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2018.1433636.
Horwitz, J. R. (2012). Photovoice as a critical reflection methodology. In Agency through teacher education: Reflection, community, and learning (pp. 15–24).
Howarth, C., Andreouli, E., & Kessi, S. (2014). Social representations and the politics of participation. In P. Nesbitt-Larking, K. Kinnvall, T. Capelos, & H. Dekker (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of global political psychology. Palgrave studies in political psychology series (pp. 19–38). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ismail, S. (2011). Researching transformation at a South African university: Ethical dilemmas in the politics of representation. Studies in Higher Education, 36(3), 275–289.
Kelly, K. J., & Birdsall, K. (2010). The effects of national and international HIV/AIDS funding and governance mechanisms in the development of civil society responses to HIV/AIDS in East and Southern Africa. AIDS Care, 22(Supplement 2), 1580–1587.
Kessi, S. (2011). Photovoice as a practice of re-presentation and social solidarity: Experiences from a youth empowerment project in Dar es Salaam and Soweto. Papers on Social Representations, 20(1), 7.1–7.27.
Kessi, S., & Boonzaier, F. (2017). Resistance and transformation in postcolonial contexts. In C. Howarth & E. Andreouli (Eds.), The social psychology of everyday politics (pp. 116–130). London: Routledge.
Kessi, S., & Cornell, J. (2015). Coming to UCT: Black students, transformation and discourses of race. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 3(2), 1–16.
Kiguwa, P. (2004). Feminist critical psychology in South Africa. In Hook et al. (Eds.), Critical Psychology (pp. 278–315). Cape Town: UCT Press.
Latz, A. (2017). Photovoice research in education and beyond: A practical guide from theory to exhibition. New York: Routledge.
Law, S. F. (2016). Unknowing researcher’s vulnerability: Re-searching inequality on an uneven playing field. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(2), 521–536.
Long, W. (2013). Rethinking “relevance”: South African psychology in context. History of Psychology, 16(1), 19–35.
Lykes, M. B., & Scheib, H. (2015). The artistry of emancipatory practice: Photovoice, creative techniques, and feminist anti-racist participatory action research. In H. Bradbury (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of action research (3rd ed., pp. 130–141). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Lykes, M. B., Terre Blanche, M., & Hamber, B. (2003). Narrating survival and change in Guatemala and South Arica: The politics of representation and a liberatory community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1–2), 79–90. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023074620506.
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2011). Thinking through the decolonial turn: Post-continental interventions in theory, philosophy, and critique – an introduction. Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(2), 1–15.
Montero, M. (2011). A critical look at critical community psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(12), 950–959.
Orford, J. (2008). Community psychology: Challenges, controversies and emerging consensus. West Sussex: John Wiley.
Seckinelgin, H. (2012). The global governance of success in HIV/AIDS policy: Emergency action, everyday lives and Sen’s capabilities. Health & Place, 18(3), 453–460.
Seedat, M., & Lazarus, S. (2011). Community psychology in South Africa: Origins, developments, and manifestations. Journal of Community Psychology, 39(3), 241–257.
Sitter, K. C. (2017). Taking a closer look at photovoice as a participatory action research method. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 28(1), 36–48.
Smith, L., Rosenzweig, L., & Schmidt, M. (2010). Best practices in the reporting of participatory action research: Embracing both the forest and the trees. The Counseling Psychologist, 38(8), 1115–1138.
Suffla, S., Seedat, M., & Bawa, U. (2015). Reflexivity as enactment of critical community psychologies: Dilemmas of voice and positionality in a multi-country photovoice study. Journal of Community Psychology, 43(1), 9–21.
Trowler, P. (2016). Doing insider research in universities. Lancaster: Author.
Wang, C. C. (1999). Photovoice: A participatory action research strategy applied to women’s health. Journal of Women’s Health, 8(2), 185–192. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.1999.8.185.
Wang, C. C. (2006). Youth participation in photovoice as a strategy for community change. Journal of Community Practice, 14(1–2), 147–161.
Wang, C. C., & Burris, M. A. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education & Behavior, 24(3), 369–387.
White, S. (1996). Depoliticising development: The uses and abuses of participation. Development in Practice, 6(1), 6–15.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the participants for sharing their experiences and for the effort and creativity they put into creating their photo-stories. We would like to acknowledge Joy Moodley and Professor Kopano Ratele for their involvement as co-researchers in various stages of this project. We would like to thank our reviewers for their thoughtful feedback.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cornell, J., Mkhize, L., Kessi, S. (2019). Envisioning Photovoice as Decolonial Feminist Praxis. In: Boonzaier, F., van Niekerk, T. (eds) Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology. Community Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20001-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20001-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20000-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20001-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)