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Paper short abstract

This paper will reflect on photovoice as a methodological practice that exemplifies many of the principles of decolonial feminist theory, drawing on ethnographic encounters with a heterogenous cohort of older adults to explore its potential to confront polarising discourses.

Paper long abstract

Photovoice is a practice rooted in decolonial feminist theory, Wang & Burris (1996) initially devised photovoice as a method with the potential to engage hard-to-reach groups who are most affected by injustices. It has been used as a tool to inform policymakers about the lived experiences of these groups. Photovoice engages with many principles of feminist theory, by acknowledging participants as experts in their own diverse experiences. The act of taking photographs is said to empower participants. As participants decide what to photograph, they disrupt dominant epistemologies of a hierarchal researcher-participant relationship through co-creation.

In this paper, I will outline my reflections on using this creative, participatory approach as part of an ongoing project that explores older adults’ experiences of medicine-use. A key concept underpinning this project is that medicine-use is socially embedded, occurring through the complex interplay of social relationships and societal level discourses on medicine-use. In using medicines, older adults must navigate relationships with clinicians, family, carers etc., as well as the structures that facilitate their medicine-use. They are subject to considerable structural and social burdens. These include but are not limited to expectations of ideal ‘sick-role’ behaviour, and stigmatising conceptualisations of older adults as vulnerable objects of biomedical scrutiny, alongside the various intersectional inequalities’ individuals experience (Hawking et al., 2020, Kaufman, Shim & Russ, 2004). The paper will explore how photovoice can be a tool for resisting these polarising discourses and facilitating anthropological practice that is engaged with feminist pedagogy and strives to embed intersectional justice.