By
Twine Bananuka
 Although
it is commonly held that ‘a picture
speaks more than a thousand words’,
 It
is equally true that a picture speaks more
about the photographer than the person or
image photographed (Silverman, 2005).
 Wade
et al (2002) also note that ‘A picture is
worth a thousand lies’
 We
have all at one point taken pictures or
used them
 However,



how often do we pause to ask;
as to who took them,
the purpose for which they were taken,
the context in which they were taken and the
intended audience.
 This
gives a glimpse of the dilemma that
researchers using photovoice and perhaps
other visual methods find themselves in

It is a participatory technique that involves
facilitating research participants to take and
analyze pictures describing their world and
practices

Photovoice serves three major purposes, that is,
enabling people to;
1)
2)
3)
Record and represent their everyday realities;
Promote critical dialogue and knowledge about
personal and community strengths and concerns;
Reach policymakers
 The
photovoice exploration reported
in this paper was part of a larger
case study of Emesco Development
Foundation (EDF), an indigenous
NGO
focused
on
community
development work.
 The
study was conducted in Buyanja
county, Kibaale district, in midwestern Uganda.
 Photovoice
was used with one group of the
population, i.e. Community Development
Workers (CDWs) as;

a means of giving them an opportunity to tell
their story and have their voices heard through
photographic evidence

It was also adopted because it aligns very well
with the critical theory paradigm adopted for
this study
Participant
Sex
Age
pseudonym
Highest level Role in EDF
Community
of education
Teruth
F
61
Primary 4
TBA
Kiduukule
Nsemba
F
32
Primary 7
CHW
Kiduukule
Iruku
M
30
Certificate
CRP
Kiduukule
Balifaijo
M
36
Senior 4
CRP
Kiduukule
Noreda
F
52
Senior 2
CHW
Busesa B
Poskali
M
68
Primary 7
CHW
Lukindo
1.
The issue of power relations and
vulnerability.

Power relations

Vulnerability and the right of minors/children.

The hows and the process of publishing
photographs

The anonymity clause
2. The use of money to facilitate
photovoice research
3. The use and handling of the camera
4. The control over ethical procedure
by the Principal Researcher
 Noreda
(pseudonym);
I first took this photo of a mother
who had just delivered …
however when her husband later
arrived, she told him about the
photograph. He also said ‘please
take mine too with my baby’. I
then took his photograph carrying
the baby.
 IRUKU


(pseudonym)
… after getting his permission to take his photograph
as he worked on his blacksmith job, he objected that I
do not also take the picture of his house, well
knowing the poor condition in which it was. However,
I later asked somebody else to go and take the picture
for me because I felt it would be an interesting case
to the study…
PI/Facilitator; But this is against our agreed position
of not taking pictures without permission …. Laughter
… (picture was not included in the selection and
participants were told why)... and they concurred).
A TBA examining an expectant mother;
Although the TBA was my research
participant/co-researcher, she passed
over her camera to her son to take her
photograph in action
Does permission/consent from parents
morally bind the children?
A community meeting chaired by a local
leader on community service
A TBA standing in the background giving
postnatal lessons to mother before
immunizing the children
A young couple with a newly born baby
with the assistance of A TBA/research
participant
Unemployed young men gambling on the
roadside in the morning, instead of
engaging in productive work
Appeal to human conscience and reasoning
 The protection of human dignity
 Carefully interrogating research participants
on the ethical procedures followed on each
photograph presented to the group
 Constantly being in touch with participants
throughout the process rather than waiting
to carry out an audit at the end of the
process
 Categorization of photographs in terms into
levels of publication

 The
argument advanced in this paper is that
it takes more than written rules and
standards set by Ethical Boards &
Committees to deal with issues related to
ethics of photovoice research
 Human
judgement and the desire to protect
human dignity remains key to photovoice
ethics, although this standard can be abused
1)
Dr. Vaughn
John, University
of KwaZuluNatal, South
Africa
2)
Prof. Budd Hall,
University of
Victoria, Canada
 Acknowledgements