Photovoice Evaluated: an Appropriate Visual Methodology for Aboriginal Water Resource Research

bs_bs_banner Photovoice Evaluated: An Appropriate Visual Methodology for Aboriginal Water Resource Research KIRSTEN MACLEAN1* and EMMA WOODWARD2 1CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia. 2CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Berrimah, NT 0828, Australia. *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Received 20 April 2012; Revised 9 August 2012; Accepted 3 September 2012 Abstract Methodologies in human geography are rapidly evolving to include participatory approaches that incorporate other voices and knowledges. Central to these participatory methodologies is the co-evolution of research objectives, the co-production of knowledge, joint learning, and capacity building of all those involved. Visual methodologies that use the media of photography are gaining recognition as powerful participatory methods. In this paper, we evaluate whether photovoice is a culturally appropriate and engaging visual methodology, and consider how it can be improved to better facilitate research between non- Aboriginal researchers and Aboriginal Australians involved in water resource management. We draw from two photovoice projects conducted in partnership with two separate Aboriginal groups in northern Australia. Photovoice methodology in this context was found to be both culturally appropriate and engaging. It facilitated genuine participatory research, empowered participants, and was easily adapted to the field situation. The methodology proved to be a powerful tool that revealed in-depth information including Aboriginal values, knowledge, concerns, and aspirations for water resource management that may not have been captured through other participatory approaches. Photovoice methodology could be enhanced with a more defined role for the researcher as knowledge broker and as translator and communicator of research outcomes (as deemed appropriate by research participants) to policy makers. KEY WORDS photovoice; visual methodologies; participatory research; Abo- riginal; water resources Introduction natural resource management (Howitt, 2001; Ens Methodologies in human geography are rapidly et al., 2010; Woodward et al., 2012), and encour- evolving to include participatory approaches. aged social transformation. Such approaches seek to create meaningful col- Participatory methodologies that unsettle con- laborations with community partners to articulate ventional research approaches by embracing their environmental and social governance goals polyvocality are advocated by Aboriginal geog- for change. Participatory methodologies have raphers and geographers working with Aborigi- revealed social and environmental inequalities nal peoples (Rigney, 1999; Smith, 1999; Howitt, (Pain, 2004), created spaces for a rethinking of 2001; Hodge and Lester, 2006; Johnson et al., 94 Geographical Research • February 2013 • 51(1):94–105 doi: 10.1111/j.1745-5871.2012.00782.x K. Maclean and E. Woodward: Photovoice Evaluated 95 2007; Louis, 2007; Maclean, 2009; Maclean and Photovoice methodology is a participatory Cullen, 2009). There is strengthening interest, approach that uses photography to generate from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous research data (Wang and Burris, 1994; 1997; researchers, in testing and refining what consti- Wang et al., 1996; Wang, 1999; Harris, 2009). tutes appropriate ‘Indigenous methodologies’ This paper explores whether photovoice method- and how these methodologies might best articu- ology is a culturally appropriate and engaging late and accommodate what is often referred to as visual methodology to facilitate research an ‘Indigenous way of knowing’ (see Rigney, between non-Aboriginal researchers and Abo- 1999; Smith, 1999; Brown and Strega, 2005; riginal Australians involved in water resource Wilson, 2008; Kovach, 2009; Chilisa, 2012). management. The paper begins with a review of Such methodologies are sensitive to Aboriginal the photovoice literature. Two case studies of protocols (Smith, 1999; Johnson et al., 2007), photovoice research conducted with Aboriginal respect Aboriginal knowledge systems and two- groups in northern Australia are then evalua- way sharing of knowledge (Davies, 2007; Louis, ted against three well-documented photovoice 2007; Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu et al., 2008; Ens et al., ‘goals’ (Wang and Burris, 1994; 1997) to evalu- 2010), and facilitate Aboriginal people to direct ate photovoice in this context. Both authors are research agendas in culturally appropriate ways non-Aboriginal people who often do research as collaborators rather than subjects (Maclean with Aboriginal groups. Case study 1 draws on and Cullen, 2009 Woodward, 2010). Participa- research conducted by the first author with 16 tory methodologies are grounded in feminist members of the Kuku Nyungkal tribal group critique of conventional research practice from the Queensland Wet Tropics (case study 1) (Haraway, 1991), post-colonial critique that to elicit their water values, knowledge, and man- emphasises the need to listen to diverse stories of agement aspirations (see Maclean and Bana place and culture that were silenced in the Yaralji Bubu Inc., 2011 for water research out- writing of colonial histories (Rattansi, 1997), and comes). Case study 2 is based on research con- the philosophy of participatory rural appraisal ducted by the second author with six members of (Chambers, 1983; 1994a; 1994b; 1999). Method- the Aboriginal community of Nauiyu Nambiyu ologies include participatory action research located on the Daly River, Northern Territory to (Reason and Bradbury, 2001; Brown and Strega, capture socio-cultural values attributed to the 2005), participatory mapping (Tobias, 2000), water resources of the Daly River and any con- participatory learning and action (Pretty et al., cerns for future development (see Jackson et al., 1995), and participatory planning (Walsh and 2011 for research outcomes). The aim of the Mitchell, 2002). Central to these methodologies separate research projects was to provide docu- is the co-evolution of research objectives, the mentation of Aboriginal interests and concerns co-production of knowledge, and capacity build- for the management of rivers in their respective ing of all those involved. region. Visual media of photography have gained recognition as a powerful tool for participatory Photovoice methodology methodologies (Wang and Burris, 1994; 1997; Photovoice, a concept developed by Wang and Wang et al., 1996; Wang, 1999; Harris, 2009). Burris (1994; 1997), is a methodology that uses When research participants have an active role in photographs to engage participants, particularly the generation and interpretation of images, the those from marginalised sectors of society, in process can reveal deeper understandings of the research. The philosophy of photovoice reso- values, beliefs, and social networks (Beazley, nates strongly with participatory action research 2008). Furthermore, photographs can act as the as it ‘puts [cameras] in the hands of children, intermediary in the researcher–participant rela- rural women, grassroots workers, and other con- tionship as researchers focus their attention on stituents with little access to those who make the image rather than the participant. This helps decisions over their lives’ (Wang and Burris, to overcome perceived status differences (Parker, 1994, 172). It is described as history in the 2005). In such circumstances, participants can be making as it records current situations and empowered as research collaborators: they are enables photographers to define these situations encouraged to add their ideas and knowledge to as they see them and to represent them to others, the scientific process, for example, through the including policy makers (Wang and Burris, 1994; introduction of new themes to the research ques- 1997). Its goals are threefold (Wang and Burris, tions (Kolb, 2008). 1997): to enable people to record and reflect © 2012 CSIRO Geographical Research © 2012 Institute of Australian Geographers 96 Geographical Research • February 2013 • 51(1):94–105 upon their community’s strengths and concerns; Wilkin and Liamputtong, 2010). Photovoice was to promote critical dialogue and collective further found to complement Aboriginal oral and knowledge production; and to inform policy. visual cultural practice (Wilkin and Liamput- Photovoice is grounded in Freire’s (1970) tong, 2010), and the public display of photo- empowerment education, feminist theory, and graphs has provided an incentive for young documentary photography. It challenges assump- people to engage in research (Larson et al., tions about representation and documentary 2001). authorship (Wang and Burris, 1997). Freire’s To date, there has been very limited use of (1970) ‘empowerment education’ and ‘education photovoice methodology with Aboriginal Aus- for a critical consciousness’ (Freire, 1973) begin tralians involved in natural resource manage- with a focus on individual development and ment. We use Wang and Burris’ (1994) three extend this focus to community and institutional goals of photovoice (to record and reflect on change through a process of shared dialogue. community strengths and concerns; to promote Feminist theory and research methodologies critical dialogue and collective knowledge pro- complement this pedagogy as they critique duction; and to inform policy) and two pho- studies that assume women as objects rather than tovoice projects conducted with Aboriginal actors in their own right (see Boserup, 1970; Australians involved in water resource mana- Moser, 1989; Shiva, 1989). Photovoice

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