Visual Biography: Refugee Youth as Multimodal Storytellers

• In Event: 47.025 - Entangled Sensualities: Bodies, Arts, Aesthetics, and Beyond in Qualitative Methodologies

Abstract

In developing visual biography as a methodology for curriculum and curriculum studies, this study brings together photographs, writing, and dance to explore the lived experiences of refugee youth in Canada. In the process, visual biography offers a multimodal curriculum for, and way of conducting research with, refugee youth. As this paper illustrates, visual biographies can illuminate lived experiences and (re)connect youth with the lifeworld through a 1) problem posing approach to education (Freire, 2000) and 2) difference curriculum (Vagle, 2015). Significantly, this study finds that visual biographies allow refugee youth to record, share, heal, and curate—as well as learn from, and teach with—authentic lived experiences.

Authors

• Karamjeet Kaur Dhillon, Wayne State University

• Jasmine Ulmer, Wayne State University