Participatory Visual Methodology as Transnational Feminist Decolonial Praxis and Collective Care and Healing

• In Event: Seeking New Suns: Murmurations on the Visual, Affective, Geographic, and Sonic Possibilities of Collaborative Liberatory Methodologies

Abstract

We are a group of Black women (some early career, some mid-career, and full professors) at three South African and two US institutions collaborating in a participatory transnational project, Neoliberalism, Gender and Curriculum Transformation in Higher Education: Feminist Decoloniality as Care (FemDAC) (2019-2023). FemDAC works with Black women as the most underrepresented group in higher education globally (Zulu, 2020; Owusu-Kwarteng 2019). However, as a transnational network, “instead of marking our shared positionalities of institutional oppression as victimhood, [we intentionally focused] on reclaiming our collective being and strengths through critical reflexivity and deep [mutual/reciprocal] care” (ibid., p. 188). Influenced by Penny Jane Burke’s work (2012), our belief was that understanding (through research) and challenging and addressing (through praxis) women’s domination and exclusion in patriarchal and often violent institutions and communities will not only benefit women as an oppressed group but will impact social transformation within and across these contexts (Aina 2010). Leaning on decolonial feminism (Lugones, 2007; 2010) and care (Tronto, 2007; 2017), our work is informed by what we have called ‘feminist decoloniality as care’, a creative praxis of social connectedness. Over five years, we held a series of research and praxis-based workshops using participatory visual methods (PVM) and other arts-based methods to critically reflect on our individual and collective experiences and to develop supportive structures for academic success (Burke, Crozier and Misiaszek, 2017).
In this symposium, I provide a snapshot from one photovoice workshop (July 2023, Durban South Africa), in which we, as the transnational FemDAC network engaged in a ‘looking back, looking forward’ reflexive exercise. The prompt was: Looking back over the five years and what we have experienced and learned together in the project, in your group: Take TWO symbolic/metaphoric pictures that represent your reflections and vision for what the FemDAC network might look like in the next 5-10 years. As the investigators and co-investigators, our group reflected on the successes/failures of the project, and how the network might continue to support the women post the funding period. We took two images. Our caption reads: We took a picture of vistas to symbolise endless possibilities. There is also an (almost) invisible glass barrier that signifies limitless possibilities while ensuring safety and support. The plants suggest rootedness (my emphasis).
On one hand, FemDAC has built a strong support system rooted in feminist decoloniality (Lugones, 2007; 2010) as/and care (Tronto 2017), with endless possibilities for growth and continued rootedness in the principles of indigeneity, ubuntu (Bagele, 2012) and decolonial feminist praxis (Walsh, 2018) co-developed over five years. On the other, the risks of collapse and rupture are real should these systems not continue to be nurtured and maintained. As the senior academics in the network, will our carework ever be done? Should it be?

Author

• Relebohile Moletsane, University of KwaZulu-Natal