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Paper short abstract:

This study explores how Participatory Visual Ethnography, using Photovoice and Participatory Video, empowers Kerala’s tribal communities, amplifies voices, fosters resilience, and challenges extractive research. It promotes methodological pluralism for inclusive disaster governance.

Paper long abstract:

Marginalized tribal communities often face crises through misrepresentation or exclusion from mainstream discourse. This study examines how Participatory Visual Ethnography, specifically PhotoVoice and Participatory Video, documents crisis experiences, amplifies indigenous voices, and advocates for policy change. Focusing on Kerala’s tribal communities, disproportionately affected by floods and landslides, this research explores how participatory visual methods facilitate self-representation, resilience-building, and co-produced crisis knowledge while challenging extractive research paradigms.Grounded in participatory and decolonial methodologies, PhotoVoice enables participants to document disaster vulnerabilities and coping mechanisms through photography. Participatory Video engages tribal members in collaborative filmmaking, allowing them to document cultural heritage, environmental concerns, and disaster responses. These methods reposition tribal communities as co-authors of crisis narratives rather than passive subjects.While crisis research often prioritizes quantitative metrics, this study highlights visual ethnography as a multi-dimensional, ethical approach to understanding affected communities. However, integrating participatory visual data into disaster governance presents challenges, including ethical concerns and institutional biases favoring quantitative indicators. This study advocates for methodological pluralism, arguing that PhotoVoice and Participatory Video democratize knowledge production, challenge top-down crisis narratives, and enable community-driven interventions, contributing to decolonizing research and integrating marginalized voices into disaster governance.