Transforming images: reimagining women's work through participatory video

Abstract

This ethnographic study of a participatory video workshop conducted with rural women in Fiji observed how communities engage with processes of production for empowerment, and the implications for dialogue, community building, and representation within Fiji's fragmented multicultural society. The study found that rural women in Fiji integrate local norms and practices in the production of programme content, and use social capital -their relationships and social networks -as a key element in video production to highlight community needs and linkages. The content produced by the women gave significance to women's work, their abilities, their skills, and their potential as income producers, as well as their empowering networks.

The challenges and opportunities of participatory video in geographical research: exploring collaboration with indigenous communities in the North Rupununi, Guyana

“…PV promoted a narrative, oral history or storytelling response from participants, a form of knowledge communication familiar within the communities (Mistry 2009). Sharing this knowledge, through the community screenings, not only reinforced communal modes of knowledge transmission, it also allowed communities to shape how they were being represented (Harris 2009; Wheeler 2009), a key critique in indigenous geographies (Shaw et al . 2006; Louis 2007).…”

The role of social memory in natural resource management: insights from participatory video

“…As indigenous communities are facing rapidly evolving social‐ecological futures, PV could provide a useful platform upon which social memory can be elicited and shaped for internal and external representation (Harris ; Wheeler ). The latter is becoming increasingly significant as indigenous resources become ever more nationally and transnationally ‘valuable’ (in terms of global biodiversity, climate change mitigation etc.…”

Participatory video as a feminist practice of looking: ‘take two!’

“…Participatory video is talked about in emancipatory terms as authors connect ideas about the possibility of a different ‘gaze’ with ideas about conscientisation, increased agency and political ‘voice’ (Evans et al . ; Garrett ; Gutberlet ; Harris ; Richardson‐Ngwenya ). For example, we are often told that when participants are given access to video technology and look through a camera's viewfinder, they gain a ‘new’, more detached, vision.…”