Digital Storytelling as a Social Work Tool: Learning from Ethnographic Research with Women from Refugee Backgrounds

Abstract

By using ethnographic research techniques, we can ask questions in order to understand some issues in the social sciences such as experience, the unique, the ordinary, daily life, emotions etc. However, it is possible to query the proficiency of current ethnographic techniques to design dialogic research and to convey the experiences of the 'subjects' of the field research. Techniques such as in-depth interviews, informal interviews and even the focus group depend on the dichotomy of the researcher who asks questions and the subject who responds to them. However, designing dialogic field research requires refusing those dichotomies, which can be considered to be inherited from a positivist understanding of science. In this article I discuss the potential of any digital storytelling workshop as an ethnographic research technique, with regard to three issues that seem problematic in current ethnographic techniques: integrated research processes; power and hierarchy relationships; and conveying the voice of subjects. The discussion of this article results from two academic experiences: One of them is my ethnographic field research experience for my doctoral dissertation; 1 the other is the digital storytelling workshop entitled When I was in the field: Digital Stories from Young Academic Women. 2 First, I

Using Autobiographical Digital Storytelling for the Integration of a Foreign Student in the School Environment. A Case Study

“…Intercultural education and digital storytelling are highly compatible. The former needs a tool for implementing its principles, which mainly have to do with communicating ideas and values (Benick, 2012;Lenette et al, 2013), while the latter is an excellent tool for communicating values, emotions and knowledge (Coventry, 2008;Robin, 2006), thus providing the foundation for intercultural cooperation and learning (Benmayor, 2008). This was one of the study's two basic concepts.…”

“…Disproportionally few are the studies examining the contribution of this tool for better intercultural understanding or for the integration and adaptation of immigrants. Most of them have been conducted on secondary and higher education (e.g., Benick, 2012;Benmayor, 2008) or in a non-educational frame (e.g., Lenette et al, 2013;Sawhney, 2009). Studies conducted in primary education are even more sparse (e.g., Bautista Garcia-Vera, 2012).…”

“…On the other hand, it is known that the discussion of a narrative promotes mutual understanding between students (Caine, 2010). In the context of an intercultural dialogue through digital storytelling, viewers/listeners are benefiting by having a better understanding of the author's experiences (Lenette et al, 2013).…”

“…On the other hand, they can be used so that immigrants (or refugees) can express their feelings, provide information about their personal lives, and record their experiences. These are all very useful information for educators, but also for any other professional who works with immigrants (Lenette, Cox, & Brough, 2013).…”

Research as storytelling: the use of video for mixed methods research

“…These traditions are evident in ethnographic research methods that journal lived experiences through a period of time and in portraiture methods that use both aesthetic and scientific language to construct a portrait (Barone & Eisner, 2012;Heider, 2009;Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005;Lenette, Cox & Brough, 2013).…”