A new paradigm of social research: “Participatory Research”

1. Improvement of social systems (Northern tradition).

2. Emancipation (Southern tradition).

Theoretical foundation: › Talcott Parsons (sociologist). › Views social progress as rational decision

making on the basis of application of scientific knowledge to world problems.

Theoretical foundation: › Paulo Freire (exiled Brazilian philosopher). › Views community members as

subjects(agents) of their own experience and inquiry.

› Views social progress through mass participation in challenging the inequitable distribution of resources.

› Originates from Marxist social theory.

Researchers work with practitioners at social institutions (e.g., companies, schools). › At companies, management, workers, and

researchers together create quality improvement.

› At schools, teachers and researchers together create new curriculums.

Researchers leave university/academia and join community-based organizations.

Participation of community members › in health research and interventions, › in health policy management, etc.

We have to think about two modes of community participation: › Community participation as ideal, rhetorical. › Community participation in the real world.

Alma Ata (1997), Ottawa (1986), Jakarta (1996) In all these conferences, the importance of

community participation was declared. Consensus: Community participation will

contribute to the improvement of the health conditions of people in the community.

Is a genuine partnership possible? › External researchers and community

members. Who represents the community?

Between external researchers and community members.

Among community members: › Elite vs. non-elite. › Economic and political inequality exists in

every society (power differences emerge).

What are the anthropological contributors to CBPAR?

Conducting a field-based research: Participatory observation.

Understanding the lived experience of the people in the community: Phenomenological anthropology.

Encouraging reflection among actors of CBPAR, including researchers: Reflective anthropology.

Anthropologists engage in participant observation in order to delineate social relationships among the communities they study.

Social relationships include power relationships.

⇒ Thus, anthropologists may have an answer in terms of how to deal with local power relationships.

Ethnography: Anthropologists base their descriptions and analysis on the actual fieldwork.

Participant observation: The researcher joins the group of the people he or she studies and participates in their activities. › Observe people's actions. › Ask questions .

Duration: One or two years for the first ethnographic study.

Experience entails: › Awareness of one's position. (Who am I?) › Emergence of empathic dimension in our

understanding of others. › Awareness of the understanding is partial. › Encouragement of reflection and critical

evaluation of our understanding of others and social reality.

Natural sciences: › Facts are out there. They exist as "things."

Social sciences: › Facts are socially constructed. Our

perspectives frame the reality. › Thus the social scientists, including

anthropologists, challenge universal knowledge or standards commonly accepted as ways of deciphering the world.

Explore the lived experience of the people. › Meaning of life, health and illness › The reality is constructed through everyday

social relationships with others.

Reflexive anthropology: Reflecting on one’s own position and powers within the research community.

May offer answers for how to deal with the power relationships between external researchers and people in the community.

Photovoice Photonarrative Photodocumentary

By Wang, C.C. (2003), In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community-based participatory research for health (pp. 179-196).

Explore distinctiveness and advantages of photovoice in community assessment and advocacy.

Understand what participants gain through photovoice and how it is important to community health in general.

Provide problem-posing education (P. Freire 1970) › Participants define issues and frame the most

relevant social actions. › Participants become advocates for their

own well-being and that of their community. › Participants engage in program

implementation and the assessment process, as well as equity and community building.

The camera: A motivating and appealing device to many people.

Photovoice: Provides a source of community pride and ownership.

Provides assessment opportunities for health researchers and practitioners who engage in community-based participatory research. › The photovoice process assumes the

legitimacy of popular knowledge produced outside a formal scientific structure.

› Photovoice prioritizes the knowledge put forth by people as a vital source of expertise.

Assumes legitimacy of popular knowledge. vs. knowledge of the powerful (scientists,

policymakers, bureaucrats, large corporations, international organizations, etc.)

Prioritizes people’s knowledge.

Offers a community- and equity-building component. › Long-term community relationships provide

tangible and immediate benefits to people and their networks.

› Returning photographs to neighbors and friends enables participants to express their appreciation, build ties, and pass along something of value that they have created themselves.

› This process affirms the integrity and perspective of society’s most vulnerable population.

The project was initiated in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, by Lisa Powers (a professional photographer).

The project targeted men and women living at the shelter in Washtenaw County.

To enable people to record and reflect their community’s strengths and concerns.

To promote critical dialogue and knowledge about important community issues through group discussion of photographs.

8 men and 3 women volunteers. 3 four-hour workshops separately for the

men’s and women’s groups over a one-month period.

Guidance › Discussion of cameras, ethics, and power. › Introduction to the photovoice concept,

method, and goals. › Camera instruction and self-portraits.

Taking photographs individually or in small groups.

Discussion of the photographs. › Some participants performed writing

exercises.

Describe and analyze the content and context of the photographs.

Gave affirming feedback to one another about their images.

Share information/findings with policymakers, journalists, and the broader community.

Wrap-up and evaluation.

Intervention addressed not only the health of people but also the general phenomenon of homelessness, including societal problems involving discrimination.

Participants enhanced their self-esteem, peer status, and quality of life. › It provided an opportunity for participants to

express their perspectives and define their concerns in a manner that garnered the attention of the media and others.

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We all know that child health is largely affected by his or her dietary practices. › What he/she eats. › How he/she has meals. When, and with whom he/she has a meals.

However, we know little of how children themselves perceive the interaction between health and diet.

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To examine, through the perspective of school children, how everyday dietary practices affect body development, playing, and studying.

Use photographs in order to explore children's perspectives.

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Rishiri island, Hokkaido › Population 5,475

(Dec. 2009) › 5 primary schools › 205 school kids

(May 2010)

Source: Eiji, Nishiya

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Sea urchin culture center

research center

Museum

Chuo hospital

Clinic

Elderly care home

Clinic

Takahashi Fishery

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Photovoice Community-based action research with photography

(Wang and Burris, 1997). Assumptions:

› People know their own lives more than others. › Take photos of one's everyday life and reflect them. › Give the experience a short caption, “voice,” discuss the

findings, and make policy proposals. Photovoice was a tool with which children could

explore their own experiences. › It would be easier for kids to explore their own ideas and

thoughts. › They also drew a picture of their breakfast. › A questionnaire of dietary practice was also conducted (the

mixed method).

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Rishiri School children (27 people)

Grades Boys Girls

1 2 4

2 2 4

3 0 3

4 1 2

5 0 3

6 4 2

Total 9 18 41

Let's take photos and discuss the photos.

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photo

photo

Diet

Drawings of a breakfast

Questionnaire on diet

Health

• Photographs of playing

• Photographs of everyday life at school

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photo

photo

photo

photo

photo

photo

photo

Breakfast is the source of power and energy.

Then we can play well.

Therefore, we eat breakfast.

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An object, by a first grade girl

A whole, by a fifth grade boy

A static representation, by a second grade girl

A dynamic representation, by a sixth grade girl

A static representation, by a first grade girl

A dynamic representation, by a sixth grade boy

photo photo

photo

Catch the moment in the movement, by a fifth grade boy

photo

photo

The interaction of all the kids, by a sixth grade girl.

photo

As they grow, children’s perspectives change, from perceiving an object to viewing a whole, and from interacting with a person to mingling with the entire group.

Children’s perspectives also change from focusing on a static object to realizing the dynamism of human interactions.

These findings suggest that children develop wide and complicated perspectives as they grow.

Such perspectives enable them to relate to others in the broader society.

However, more than a million people in Japan now suffer from “hikikomori.” Why is this so, when they had the potential to relate to other people?

What did you learn from the photovoice method? › What is the most intriguing aspect of the

Language of Light project as well as of the Rishiri project?

› What do you consider to be the advantages and limitations of the use of photovoice in community health assessment?