Exploring the Role of Positionality in exhibiting participants’ visual media

• In Event: Who? Are? We? Researcher positionality in participatory arts-based research

Abstract

“How do you not cry every time you talk to your participants?” A conference participant asked me this after my presentation about research with girls about transactional sex and sexual violence in and around rural schools in South Africa. The question made me realise that some people took away from my presentation (yet another) image of “the poor African girl.” This image by no means reflects the dedicated group of teenage Zulu girls who used cellphones and participatory video methods to explore the ways they resist and navigate sexuality, risk, and desire in a context of high gender-based violence. Incorporating participatory visual methodologies into research with marginalized communities arguably offers opportunities to address power imbalances between researcher and participants. An extensive discussion in the academic literature looks at ethical considerations involved in doing this work. This paper questions research knowledge dissemination for projects incorporating participatory arts-based methodologies. How do I position myself in my research alongside the visual texts made by participants? Using interpretive description I reflect on research fieldnotes and instances when I have chosen to (not) show participant-produced media during conferences or academic publications. If pictures by/of the participants are incorporated into academic presentations, for example, how are these images understood alongside the researchers’ presentation of self? What other texts (visual/written) might be included in presentations that might disrupt power within the research? When is it appropriate to include participant-produced images and how might these construct participants in contrast to or in collaboration with the researcher?

Author

• Katie MacEntee, McGill University