Banks, Marcus. (2007). London, UK: Sage
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Symbolism of video
: Exploring migrant mothers' experiences. Yolanda Hernandez-Albujar. (2007). in Gregory Stanczak (2007), Visual research methods: Image, society, and representation (pp, 281-306). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
The author discussed some ethical issues involved in visual ethnographic video approach in her study of the migratory experience among Latin American mothers in Italy. She argued that the conventional ethnographic videotaping was not feasible because it could disclose identities of the participants. Thus she reconfigured the video (the title is "Voices") by incorporating related images in an experimental way to convey emotions and situations that the participants described through in-depth interviews. She wrote the final video was a practical solution to the participants' refusal to be video-recorded, and writing, "I substituted the participants' faces and their gestures and actions in front of the camera by symbols that engages metaphors of the verbal and visual narratives" (p. 291)
Finally, she discussed some limitations of her work: Although the video should represent the finding, but screening the video itself potentially limit a generation of sociological knowledge. She admitted that the video should be presented alongside with the conventional text analysis of the project for the best understanding of the project. However, she pointed out, access to visual data in publication limits video methodology in the social sciences. Video is not streamlined in the publication unlike still images, she argued.
She quoted Ken Plummer (2001, Documents of life 2, An invitation to a critical humanism) in the delayed use of video for sociology:
"[I]ndeed a whole new generation of "video" experts seems to have emerged outside of sociology to do sociology's work! There are now several generations of "video workers" who have used video as radical means of transforming the orthodox visual image and of providing a whole library of "alternative video forms." (p. 71, cited p. 303)
The author discussed some ethical issues involved in visual ethnographic video approach in her study of the migratory experience among Latin American mothers in Italy. She argued that the conventional ethnographic videotaping was not feasible because it could disclose identities of the participants. Thus she reconfigured the video (the title is "Voices") by incorporating related images in an experimental way to convey emotions and situations that the participants described through in-depth interviews. She wrote the final video was a practical solution to the participants' refusal to be video-recorded, and writing, "I substituted the participants' faces and their gestures and actions in front of the camera by symbols that engages metaphors of the verbal and visual narratives" (p. 291)
Finally, she discussed some limitations of her work: Although the video should represent the finding, but screening the video itself potentially limit a generation of sociological knowledge. She admitted that the video should be presented alongside with the conventional text analysis of the project for the best understanding of the project. However, she pointed out, access to visual data in publication limits video methodology in the social sciences. Video is not streamlined in the publication unlike still images, she argued.
She quoted Ken Plummer (2001, Documents of life 2, An invitation to a critical humanism) in the delayed use of video for sociology:
"[I]ndeed a whole new generation of "video" experts seems to have emerged outside of sociology to do sociology's work! There are now several generations of "video workers" who have used video as radical means of transforming the orthodox visual image and of providing a whole library of "alternative video forms." (p. 71, cited p. 303)
Photo-elicitation
Collier, Malcolm. (2007). The applied visual anthropology of John Collier: A photo essay. In Sarah Pink (Ed.), Visual intervention: Applied visual anthropology. New York, NY: Berghahn Books.
In this chapter, the author introduces some works of John Collier Jr, to whom we are indebted for the use of photography in anthropology and sociology research, in particular, photo-elicitation, a method he developed. Looking at the Vicos Project (in the mid-1950s), in which close to nine-thousand still images and hours of 16 mm films were taken in Vicos, Peru, the author wrote:
The visual ethnography was intended to provide both information for immediate use and also a baseline record for later comparative evaluation of the impact of the project. (p. 35)
The author noted that in the late 60s, John Collier turned his attention to cross-cultural schooling and at the same time, started using super 8 film equipment in response to the limitations of still photography. With this respect, the author wrote, "The shift to film placed more emphasis on observation and analysis of social interactions and process through time and space" (p. 44)
[This essay indicates that J. Collier, perhaps many others in that period, regarded visual images as a mirroring representation of the reality like a documentation]
In concluding the use of visual images by J. Collier, the author wrote:
"While in earlier years John Collier Jr's photographs were more classically documentary in character, intended to make statements to viewers for applied purposes (what I understand this term as an exploration of the potential of photos to reveal something that painting cannot do), by the 1960s they became explicitly tools for obtaining information and understanding about the circumstances in which they were made. The camera became a more systematically directed tool for data gathering and less of an expressive device. The resulting images were often less individually compelling but the collective informational content became a far more extensive and complete source of information on the circumstances in front of the lens" (p. 49)
[This indicate that the use of photos was predominantly objectivistic and positivistic. The photos were to provide vivid reality themselves. They were a tool for data gathering.]
In this chapter, the author introduces some works of John Collier Jr, to whom we are indebted for the use of photography in anthropology and sociology research, in particular, photo-elicitation, a method he developed. Looking at the Vicos Project (in the mid-1950s), in which close to nine-thousand still images and hours of 16 mm films were taken in Vicos, Peru, the author wrote:
The visual ethnography was intended to provide both information for immediate use and also a baseline record for later comparative evaluation of the impact of the project. (p. 35)
The author noted that in the late 60s, John Collier turned his attention to cross-cultural schooling and at the same time, started using super 8 film equipment in response to the limitations of still photography. With this respect, the author wrote, "The shift to film placed more emphasis on observation and analysis of social interactions and process through time and space" (p. 44)
[This essay indicates that J. Collier, perhaps many others in that period, regarded visual images as a mirroring representation of the reality like a documentation]
In concluding the use of visual images by J. Collier, the author wrote:
"While in earlier years John Collier Jr's photographs were more classically documentary in character, intended to make statements to viewers for applied purposes (what I understand this term as an exploration of the potential of photos to reveal something that painting cannot do), by the 1960s they became explicitly tools for obtaining information and understanding about the circumstances in which they were made. The camera became a more systematically directed tool for data gathering and less of an expressive device. The resulting images were often less individually compelling but the collective informational content became a far more extensive and complete source of information on the circumstances in front of the lens" (p. 49)
[This indicate that the use of photos was predominantly objectivistic and positivistic. The photos were to provide vivid reality themselves. They were a tool for data gathering.]
Visusal Methods in Social Research
Banks, Marcus. (2001). London, UK: Sage.
Banks introduces ways to incorporate visual images into social science research. According to him, anthropology has been a pioneer of using visual images as a form of visual anthropology. But he noted a growing body of literature on visual research in other disciplines in social science research in 1990s, and yet, methodological insights was confined to specific areas, such as the production of ethnographic films. Thus he presents some alternative methods and some advantages of using visual images. However, this book is heavily focused on photography. Acknowledging this, Banks found an advantage of using still photos for research in its ubiquity in modern society:
Still photography is a medium available to almost everyone in the world as either producer or consumer. and examples form the use of still photography can often serve to points arising from the use of all or most visual media . . . (p. x)
About photo-elicitation:
Banks introduced photo-elicitation. "It involves using photography to invoke comments, memory and discussion in the course of a semi-structure interview" (p. 87). Photos become the basis of discussion and provoking vague memories. Collier and Collier (1986, Visual anthropology: Photography as a research method), who pioneered photo elicitation (using archival photos), pointed out that photos can contribute to lessen awkwardness that interviewees might feel: eliminating direct eye contact and awkward silence. Banks pointed out that photo-elicitation is not straightforward in practice because of issues of photographic multivocality and the complexity of relationship between photo objects and human social relations. In this light, he discussed the use of other types of photos. Further, he argued for the potential of collaborative research through photo-elicitation. He wrote:
"Rather, the introduction of photographs to interviews and conversations sets off a kind of chain reaction: the photographs effectively exercise agency, causing people to do and think things they had forgotten, or to see things they had always known in a new way, . . . (p. 98)
For Banks, the term "method" is inseparable from theory and analysis , and yet, no less important than the others, because it makes social research an "an engagement, not an exercise in data collection" (p. 179) by letting research subjects co-operate with researchers, if not participate, in the research process based on their knowledge of their lives. He implies using visual images can be one of such methods.
The last paragraph well summarizes his view of images in research:
"Images exist materially in the world, are involved in particular and specific huamn social relations. Their meanings are historically and socially embedded, told through their internal and external narratives. They have authors and consumers, they are attributed with agency and affect the agency of others. All these features are discernible, documentable, and can be isolated for analysis and comparison. The practitioners of visual social research who bemoan the lack of attention paid to their labours are, in some ways, missing the point. Visual images are ubiquitous in the lives of work of those who study and those who are studied. There is no lack of attention paid to the visual, merely a failure of perspective." (p. 179)
[Despite his beginning tone that research projects can be done without visual images, but with them research becomes different, his final tone is very strong and positive on what researchers can do with visual images.]
Banks introduces ways to incorporate visual images into social science research. According to him, anthropology has been a pioneer of using visual images as a form of visual anthropology. But he noted a growing body of literature on visual research in other disciplines in social science research in 1990s, and yet, methodological insights was confined to specific areas, such as the production of ethnographic films. Thus he presents some alternative methods and some advantages of using visual images. However, this book is heavily focused on photography. Acknowledging this, Banks found an advantage of using still photos for research in its ubiquity in modern society:
Still photography is a medium available to almost everyone in the world as either producer or consumer. and examples form the use of still photography can often serve to points arising from the use of all or most visual media . . . (p. x)
About photo-elicitation:
Banks introduced photo-elicitation. "It involves using photography to invoke comments, memory and discussion in the course of a semi-structure interview" (p. 87). Photos become the basis of discussion and provoking vague memories. Collier and Collier (1986, Visual anthropology: Photography as a research method), who pioneered photo elicitation (using archival photos), pointed out that photos can contribute to lessen awkwardness that interviewees might feel: eliminating direct eye contact and awkward silence. Banks pointed out that photo-elicitation is not straightforward in practice because of issues of photographic multivocality and the complexity of relationship between photo objects and human social relations. In this light, he discussed the use of other types of photos. Further, he argued for the potential of collaborative research through photo-elicitation. He wrote:
"Rather, the introduction of photographs to interviews and conversations sets off a kind of chain reaction: the photographs effectively exercise agency, causing people to do and think things they had forgotten, or to see things they had always known in a new way, . . . (p. 98)
For Banks, the term "method" is inseparable from theory and analysis , and yet, no less important than the others, because it makes social research an "an engagement, not an exercise in data collection" (p. 179) by letting research subjects co-operate with researchers, if not participate, in the research process based on their knowledge of their lives. He implies using visual images can be one of such methods.
The last paragraph well summarizes his view of images in research:
"Images exist materially in the world, are involved in particular and specific huamn social relations. Their meanings are historically and socially embedded, told through their internal and external narratives. They have authors and consumers, they are attributed with agency and affect the agency of others. All these features are discernible, documentable, and can be isolated for analysis and comparison. The practitioners of visual social research who bemoan the lack of attention paid to their labours are, in some ways, missing the point. Visual images are ubiquitous in the lives of work of those who study and those who are studied. There is no lack of attention paid to the visual, merely a failure of perspective." (p. 179)
[Despite his beginning tone that research projects can be done without visual images, but with them research becomes different, his final tone is very strong and positive on what researchers can do with visual images.]
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