KSUganda 2023 Photovoice Community Project

Photovoice is a qualitative research method used in community-based participatory research that gathers participant-taken photographs and narratives to translate experience into actionable knowledge. Another of the most important characteristics of Photovoice is to promote self-expression and exchange through a reflective process.

Photovoice methods present a collaborative model for non-academics to participate as equals alongside academic researchers through the use of participatory research methods. This framework help researchers learn to share power and democratize academic discourse while educating a broader public community about how academic knowledge is formed and disseminated.

Study abroad programs are a particularly useful site to explore democratic models of research and pedagogical design using Photovoice. Students participating in the 2023 KSUganda program learned the techniques of Photovoice in a session with Professor Shannon McMorrow. McMorrow is Program Coordinator and Associate Professor in the Master of Public Health program at Western Michigan State University.

McMorrow is also author of a book on photovoice that explores how to apply the framework to social justice issues. McMorrow discussed her experiences in Uganda as a American Fulbright Scholar and how she has used Photovoice in her research activities spanning both continents.

Students developed a modified Photovoice project during the program that centered on the social determinants of health. Students were encouraged to explore how various themes of power, privilege, place, and policy intersect to impact health outcomes using images and then to explain these images in detail as they related to readings, lectures provided by the instructors, public health specialists, community leaders, and first hand interactions throughout Uganda.