Navigating Voice, Vocabulary and Silence: Developing Critical Consciousness in a Photovoice Project with (Un)Paid Care Workers in Long-Term Care

Saskia Elise Duijs, Tineke Abma, Janine Schrijver, Zohra Bourik, Yvonne Abena-Jaspers, Usha Jhingoeri, Olivia Plak, Naziha Senoussi and Petra Verdonk
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Saskia Elise Duijs: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tineke Abma: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands
Janine Schrijver: Independent Researcher/Photographer (Scholarly Artist), Sichting B.a.d., Talingstraat 5, 3082 MG Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Zohra Bourik: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Yvonne Abena-Jaspers: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Usha Jhingoeri: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Olivia Plak: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Naziha Senoussi: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Petra Verdonk: Amsterdam UMC, Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, De Boelenlaan 1089a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: Photovoice is a widely used approach for community participation in health promotion and health promotion research. However, its popularity has a flip-side. Scholars raise concerns that photovoice drifts away from its emancipatory roots, neglecting photovoice’s aim to develop critical consciousness together with communities. Our four-year photovoice project aimed to unravel how the health of (un)paid care workers was shaped at the intersection of gender, class and race. This article springs from first, second and third-person inquiry within our research team of (un)paid care workers, academic researchers and a photographer. We observed that critical consciousness emerged from an iterative process between silence, voice and vocabulary. We learned that photovoice scholars need to be sensitive to silence in photovoice projects, as silence can be the starting point for finding voice, but also a result of silencing acts. Social movements and critical theories, such as intersectionality, provide a vocabulary for participants to voice their critical perspectives to change agents and to support collective action. We discuss our experiences using Frickers’ concept of ‘epistemic justice’, arguing that critical consciousness not only requires that communities are acknowledged as reliable knowers, but that they need access to interpretative tropes to voice their personal experiences as structural.

Keywords: participatory health research; photovoice; critical consciousness; community participation; intersectionality; epistemic justice; long-term care; unpaid care workers; paid care workers; occupational health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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