PhotoVoice: Effective and Innovative Applications to Social Work Community Practice

This workshop is aimed at strengthening the knowledge and skills in applying the PhotoVoice methodology to social work community practice, including community assessment, engagement, organizing, and development; program... [ view full abstract ]

This workshop is aimed at strengthening the knowledge and skills in applying the PhotoVoice methodology to social work community practice, including community assessment, engagement, organizing, and development; program development and evaluation; social/policy planning; and political and social action.
PhotoVoice is grounded in Freireian participatory and transformative traditions. PhotoVoice combines photographs and small group discussions in the critical examination of, and formulation of solutions for, a social condition/issue by engaging the very people affected by it. Participants take photographs of their lives and community conditions and share and discuss them in a small group repeatedly. The ongoing discussions foster inclusive learning about, and intersubjective interpretations of, their own and others’ experiences in the socio-cultural and political context, which leads to critical analyses of their community and society as a whole. Researchers (often facilitating the group discussion) participate in the discussion, furthering the learning of the participants while learning from them at the same time. These reflective and dialectic discussions serve as participatory community assessments, based on which community members and researchers explore and formulate alternative and/or more effective policy and practice approaches and strategize toward their implementation. In addition, the presentation of the photographs and associated narratives (“Voices”) through various media, such as exhibits, community forums, and the internet, informs and influences policymakers, administrators, and practitioners. It also works to raise consciousness among a larger segment of the society and promote their engagement in social and political action.
This workshop presents the history, theoretical foundations and tenets, and methodologies of PhotoVoice and emphasizes participants’ skill development.
This workshop will engage the participants in a collective and reflective learning using various interactive and participatory pedagogical approaches, experiential exercises, as well as case examples (e.g., a project with refugee women residing in the U.S. and another with disaster-affected individuals in Japan).