Picturing community development work in Uganda: fostering dialogue through photovoice

Bananuka, T., & John, V. M. (2014). Picturing community development work in Uganda: fostering dialogue through photovoice. Community Development Journal, bsu036.

This article is based on the use of photovoice as a method in development research work as done in Uganda. Photovoice is defined as a ‘non-text’ method of doing participatory research that can be used for, among other benefits, its empowering potential of those involved in research. The authors start by giving a brief introduction of the use of photovoice as a method in social sciences. They then show how photovoice as a method allows community development workers to present their work and roles at the community through their own perspective. This is particularly important because their work is often presented from external points of view. Further, the research process in this particular project from generating data through photovoice to analyzing this data is addressed. Ethical issues arising from using photovoice were also considered and the researcher’s power in the research process is acknowledged. From their findings the authors argue that photovoice can be a framework that allows for dialogue in multiple ways to occur for example between the researcher and the participants, the researcher and self and a community level dialogue.  

The Search for Emerging Decolonizing Methodologies in Qualitative Research

Lincoln, Yvonna S., and Elsa M. González y González. “The Search for Emerging Decolonizing Methodologies in Qualitative Research: Further Strategies for Liberatory and Democratic Inquiry.” Qualitative Inquiry 14, no. 5 (2008): 784–805.

The article considers a methodological approach that gives importance to the voice of Non-Western and Non-English Scholars in their research; this particular research involves a comparative study of the collaboration in research of Western and Non-Western Scholars across different cultures and languages. The article also focuses on the strategies that can be used to overcome the challenges that arise in cross-cultural or language research such as the possibilities of bilingual presentation of the research findings, the role of the researcher in the articulation of social reality and the collaboration of the researcher with a local. The research investigates how data can be analyzed and presented in bilingual texts. This particular article is based on six different cases of collaborative research work.
Ethics: the research is influenced by a recent renewed interest in ethics in social sciences that stresses the importance of research done globally to the communities in which it was done as well as the Western academic knowledge communities and universities. It also focuses on sensitivity in cross-cultural research to the needs of international students while maintaining a working relationship which may influence future collaboration between these international students and the academic community in the Western world.