An application of photovoice in post-graduate studies

This briefing describes the integration of the Photovoice methodology into a post-graduate psychology programme at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. The project aimed to enable students to document and investigate community resilience from their own perspectives, contributing to a broader effort by the Southern African Resilience Academy (SARA) to conceptualize 'equitable resilience' within the Global South.

• The Photovoice methodology was implemented in a post-graduate psychology course at the University of the Western Cape to help students identify and document defining elements of resilience in their communities. The process involved several stages: compulsory training on ethics and restorative social justice, gathering photos and narratives using cameras or smartphones, delivering 15-minute individual multimodal presentations, maintaining audiovisual reflective journals, and participating in interviews to develop a shared definition of equitable resilience in the South African context.
• Student applications of Photovoice focused on diverse community contexts, including the Morningstar community, the Scenery Park community, Muslim resilience in Stellenbosch, the breast cancer community, and community resilience in Mfuleni and Guguletu. Students reported that the method helped them recognize rich, unspoken histories and counteract negative community narratives.
• The project is part of a wider initiative by the Southern African Resilience Academy (SARA) to address a gap in research regarding 'equitable resilience'. While the construct of resilience has been criticized for ignoring social justice and differential vulnerability, most research on equitable resilience has come from high-income countries. SARA aims to elucidate this construct specifically within the context of Southern Africa (SADC) to build a pathway for research in disaster management and resilience.

APA

Global Resilience Partnership (2023). An application of photovoice in post-graduate studies. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/photo-voice-brief-final.pdf

Chicago

Global Resilience Partnership. An application of photovoice in post-graduate studies. 2023. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/photo-voice-brief-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Resilience Partnership |title=An application of photovoice in post-graduate studies |date=December 2023 |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/photo-voice-brief-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalresiliencepartnership2023application, author = {{Global Resilience Partnership}}, title = {{An application of photovoice in post-graduate studies}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/photo-voice-brief-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }