Empowerment through Photo Novella: Portraits of Participation

Abstract

Photo novella does not entrust cameras to health specialists, policymakers, or professional photographers, but puts them in the hands of children, rural women, grassroots workers, and other constituents with little access to those who make decisions over their lives. Promoting what Brazilian educator Paulo Freire has termed "education for critical consciousness," photo novella allows people to document and discuss their life conditions as they see them. This process of empowerment education also enables community members with little money, power, or status to communicate to policymakers where change must occur. This paper describes photo novella's underpinnings: empowerment education, feminist theory, and documentary photography. It draws on our experience implementing the process among 62 rural Chinese women, and shows that two major implications of photo novella are its contributions to changes in consciousness and informing policy.

Using Photovoice to Explore Patient Perceptions of Patient-Centered Care in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System

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Factors influencing self-care behaviors of African Americans with heart failure: A photovoice project

“…In the photovoice method, the researcher provides cameras to people in the community so they may visually represent and communicate to others their experiences. 24 In a fundamental way, participants serve as the experts on their own lives.…”

A descriptive qualitative study of childhood cancer challenges in South Africa: Thematic analysis of 68 photovoice contributions

“…This qualitative, participatory action research design 10 facilitates the direct use of participant views of childhood cancer-related challenges (i.e. photo-stories), in social action (i.e.…”

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