{"id":707,"date":"2013-09-13T13:15:31","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T13:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=707"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:12:15","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:12:15","slug":"surprised-by-visual-ethnography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/surprised-by-visual-ethnography\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprised by Visual Ethnography"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to confess that when I first flipped through the pages of, \u201cDoing Visual Ethnography\u201d<\/em> by Sarah Pink, I wasn\u2019t too impressed by the pictures.\u00a0 I thought it looked rather boring and I wondered why the author only used black and white pictures.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0My second confession is that I was not familiar with the term ethnography.\u00a0 So before I began to read the book, I wanted to find out the definition of \u201cethnography.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, ethnography means \u201cthe study of human races and cultures; the study and systematic recording of human cultures.\u201d [1]\u00a0 \u00a0I also listened to how it was pronounced in both English and Spanish, \u201cethnograf\u00eda\u201d\u2014something I usually do when I learn a new word.\u00a0 Needless to say, I thought it would be a daunting task reading this book.<\/p>\n

However, to my surprise, it took me to a place that I had forgotten. \u00a0\u00a0About fifteen years ago I went on a mission trip to Mexico with some pastoral colleagues and friends.\u00a0 Our task, for the three weeks we were there, was to help build homes and to provide a one week educational program for children.\u00a0 We were met by two missionaries who took the group to the location where we were going to build a few homes.\u00a0 When we reached our destination we were introduced to 12 families.\u00a0 Each family, no matter how small or large, lived in the same size home.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember hearing one of my colleagues say, \u201cMake sure we take pictures of all of this so that we can report back.\u201d \u00a0Take pictures of what?\u00a0 What were we going to report?\u00a0 \u00a0I think I understood what my colleague meant, but I was embarrassed by the way it was expressed in front of the local people, especially since we had just arrived.<\/p>\n

I appreciate what Sarah Pink writes when she says, \u201cSometimes to be able to photograph the activities they are interested in, ethnographers first have to establish themselves locally as someone who is trusted to take photographs.\u201d [2] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t help but wonder how many times the people in this community have been photographed?\u00a0 How many times have they not been asked?<\/p>\n

We often make the assumption on these mission trips that we are there to \u201chelp them\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 We don\u2019t take the time to establish a relationship and to get to know the culture and way of living.\u00a0 Often times it is about the agenda that \u201cwe\u201d bring rather than what \u201cwe\u201d collectively can do together.\u00a0 \u201cIf ethnography is seen as a process of negotiation and collaboration with informants, through which they too stand to achieve their own objectives, rather than as an act of taking information away from them, the ethical agenda also shifts.\u201d [3] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pink claims that when we focus on collaboration and create something together both the researcher and the informant invest in and are rewarded by the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing Visual Ethnography\u201d <\/em>has also heightened my awareness of the appropriateness and inappropriateness of using cameras and making images.\u00a0\u00a0 Pink states that \u201cin some situations photographs or videos of informants may put them in political danger or subject them to moral criticism. \u201c [4] \u00a0\u00a0Because of the issue of undocumentation, in some of my circles, I need to be careful who I photograph.\u00a0 And if I do take a picture I have to make sure it is not made public, without their permission.\u00a0 I also am aware of issues of domestic violence and, again, I have to be careful, sensitive and respectful of my \u201cinformants.\u201d<\/p>\n

This book has challenged me not just to collect data, but to experience and engage, collaborate and create, observe and participate in order to better understand other cultures and individuals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] http:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/ethnography<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Accessed 9\/12\/13<\/p>\n

[2] Pink, Sarah, Doing Visual Ethnography. <\/em>\u00a0Second Edition(SAGE Publications Ltd., Thousand Oaks,California, 2007), 73.<\/p>\n

[3] ibid., 57<\/p>\n

[4] ibid., 43<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have to confess that when I first flipped through the pages of, \u201cDoing Visual Ethnography\u201d by Sarah Pink, I wasn\u2019t too impressed by the pictures.\u00a0 I thought it looked rather boring and I wondered why the author only used black and white pictures.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0My second confession is that I was not familiar with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2886,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}