Instagram photography and the geography field course: snapshots from Berlin

Abstract

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“Looking with intention”: using photographic essays as didactical tool to explore Berlin

“…Moreover, while most of these theses are based on qualitative or mixed methods rather than quantitative research, hardly any of them use visual data as a research method. This contributes to Sanders (2007) findings that the methodological and pedagogical contributions of photographs have been overlooked in geography, mainly limited to field courses (Davies et al, 2019). Phillips (2015, p. 621) argued that geography students are "methodologically conservative", often opting for interviews.…”

“…Consequently, we feel the need to reinvigorate the debate about the importance of using photography as a research method and didactical tool in the geography classroom. As outlined before, taking pictures can enhance active and engaged learning (Davies et al, 2019;Hall, 2009;Rose, 2008;Sanders, 2007), feelings of enchantment (Pyyry, 2016(Pyyry, , 2018, and critical, reflexive and non-discursive thinking (Alerby & Bergmark, 2012;Latham & McCormack, 2009;Sidaway, 2002). Of course, also other visual methods like field sketching might be used for similar reasons, and are also used in related research (Bernardt, Huigen, & Van Hoven, forthcoming) but are much less practical to use, and can often not cope with the dynamics of the urban scenery.…”

“…There is no parity weighting; less pictures do not allow for more words or vice versa. Students have to make their own pictures to train their observational skills, but they are allowed to use maximum two pictures made by other photographers, for example, if they would like to do "repeat photography" (Davies et al, 2019;Lemmons et al, 2014) and illustrate how the urban landscape looked like in the past. As the joint composition of image and text, the essay should answer the following question posed to the students, pushing them to go beyond superficial observations: How does Berlin challenge, affirm, or force you to abandon ideas you have acquired about cities and city cultures or "the urban" in the course?…”

“…A certain theory or concept was leading when deciding which places to explore; as a result, many students did not visit typical tourist sites such the Brandenburger Tor, Unter den Linden and the East Side Gallery at allor if they did, they looked at them differently, beyond the typical "tourist gaze" (Davies et al, 2019;Urry, 1990). Raoul, for example, investigated Ostalgiea sense of nostalgia for the former East.…”

“…Photography has long been acknowledged in this journal as an importantalbeit often underutilizedresearch method in human geography (e.g. Davies, Lorne, & Sealey-Huggins, 2019;Hall, 2009Hall, , 2015Lemmons, Brannstrom, & Hurd, 2014;Rose, 2008;Sanders, 2007). Meanwhile, however, our world is becoming increasingly visually orientated, as illustrated by the rise of social media such as SnapChat and Instagram 1 and the popularity of vlogs.…”