Empowerment through photo novella: portraits of participation

Title

Empowerment through photo novella: portraits of participation

Creator

Wang C; Burris MA

Publisher

Health Education Quarterly

Date

1994

Subject

Child; Female; Humans; Male; Adult; Communication; Socioeconomic Factors; Cross-Cultural Comparison; China; Health Education; Power (Psychology); Preschool; Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support; infant; Comparative Study; Developing Countries; Health Policy/trends; Life Style; Demographic Factors; Population; Population Characteristics; Photography; Asia; Community Participation; Eastern Asia; Economic Factors; Films; Health Services Needs and Demand/trends; Mass Media; Organization And Administration; Rural Health/trends; Rural Population--women; Summary Report; Women's Health Services/trends; Women's Status

Description

Photo novella does not entrust cameras to health specialists, policymakers, or professional photographers, but puts them in the hands of children, rural women, grassroots workers, and other constituents with little access to those who make decisions over their lives. Promoting what Brazilian educator Paulo Freire has termed "education for critical consciousness," photo novella allows people to document and discuss their life conditions as they see them. This process of empowerment education also enables community members with little money, power, or status to communicate to policymakers where change must occur. This paper describes photo novella's underpinnings: empowerment education, feminist theory, and documentary photography. It draws on our experience implementing the process among 62 rural Chinese women, and shows that two major implications of photo novella are its contributions to changes in consciousness and informing policy.; PIP: Contrary to the traditional approach of relying upon photographic images taken by health specialists, policymakers, and professional photographers to document what transpires in a particular community or subpopulation, photo novella encourages children, rural women, grassroots workers, and other constituents with little access to decision-makers to take their own photographs of life as they see it. This process of empowerment education enables community members with little money, power, or status to communicate to policymakers where change must occur. This paper describes photo novella's foundation in empowerment education, feminist theory, and documentary photography. It draws upon experience implementing the process among 62 rural Chinese women, highlighting the ability of photo novella to change consciousness and inform policy.
1994

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Wang C; Burris MA, “Empowerment through photo novella: portraits of participation,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 19, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/11826.