Fotohistorias: Participatory Photography as a Methodology to Elicit the Life Experiences of Migrants

The Power of Participatory Photography in ICTD Programs: Freedom to Explore beyond Images

“…: between the researcher and the participant), and enhances participants' positive experiences with the research process. [7], [8] Participatory photography has been well documented and successfully implemented as a technique that enables participants to share, and researchers to have access, to what in other studies based only on oral stimuli could remain unseen. As stressed by Sarah Pink, "meanings do not exist in photographs."…”

“…We used Fotohistorias [8], [18] as a method to capture and understand migrants' life experiences at their most vulnerable times: while receiving services such as food and supplies at a shelter just minutes from the border in Nogales, Mexico, and while looking for jobs at a day labor dispatch center in Seattle, WA. In both places we worked in partnership with local organizations to gain entry, recruit participants, and conduct the research on site (in Nogales with El Comedor, a shelter run by the binational NGO Kino Border Initiative, and in Seattle with Casa Latina, a nonprofit job dispatch center that also serves the needs of immigrant day laborers and domestic workers).…”

“…Since, it has been used extensively in projects that involve vulnerable communities, as a way to access their worlds and give them a voice: marginalized groups "are normally not encouraged to share their perspectives, and photography gives them a means to do so." [8] The strength of this technique relies in the way humans respond to the stimulus of images. "The parts of the brain that process visual information are evolutionary older than the parts that process verbal information.…”

Notions of Home and Sense of Belonging in the Context of Migration in a Journey through Participatory Photography

“…FOTOHISTORIAS AS A RESEARCH METHOD Fotohistorias methodology uses participatory photography and in-person interviews to elicit life experiences with migrants in order to help surface the richness, diversity and depth of their roots, experiences and aspirations (Gomez & Vannini, 2015;Yefimova et al, 2015). Participants were invited to take or bring photographs about their experience as migrants, and then to hold a conversational interview about them.…”

“…Participants were invited to take or bring photographs about their experience as migrants, and then to hold a conversational interview about them. The method allows for a deep understanding of the interviewees' experiences and perceptions around the research topic (Yefimova et al, 2015). their own experiences.…”