{"id":708,"date":"2013-09-13T08:10:11","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T08:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=708"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:26:13","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:26:13","slug":"ve-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ve-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder\/","title":{"rendered":"VE – In the Eye of the Beholder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Pink\u2019s Doing Visual Ethnography<\/em> (2006, 2nd<\/sup> ed.) is a solidly researched and articulated text that offers an in-depth overview of utilizing the image \u2013 through various forms and methods \u2013 as viable research aid.<\/p>\n

The text does offer an overview, but it really is an overview offered for someone already decently versed in the language and methods of her area\/discipline.\u00a0 I have graduate academic background in the areas she is discussing and felt reasonably at home with the reading due to this.\u00a0 However, even with background similarity and philosophical affinity for much of how she was approaching the topic, I still found the read rather tedious at times.<\/p>\n

Philosophically, I resonate strongly with her emphasis on the \u201ccentrality of subjectivity.\u201d I think that is part of what makes any given research effort particularly fascinating.\u00a0 Unlike the empiricist goal of reliability as evidenced through replicability, visual ethnographic research emphasizes contextualized authenticity in the midst of engaged (and therefore always already) conflicted contextualities.\u00a0 The relationality that is involved in the research process is of utmost importance.\u00a0 It may not be replicable, but it needs to be extrapolatable.\u00a0 Personal encounter must be able to be articulated at some level as generally transferable to larger populations.\u00a0 In this sense, I liked Pink offering the following point \u2013even as I thought it was rather obvious, \u201cVE is as much an applied as an academic practice.\u201d (4)<\/p>\n

Furthermore, relationality requires reflexivity of thought. That is, doing visual ethnography well requires one to be able to consciously consider the implications to self and others of the process.\u00a0 Such considering requires a willingness to work at the boundaries of disciplines and engage, really, in interdisciplinary themes and approaches.\u00a0 Moreover, Pink notes that personal reflexivity is not enough if one really wants to engage in collegial conversations and find meaningful ways to contribute more largely into ones field.\u00a0 For larger scale projects to occur and for influence to increase there must be access to funding and for such funding to be offered by institutions, Pink writes that one must be able to be \u201cconversant about such self-reflexivity in institutional language\u201d (4)<\/p>\n

\u201cImages are everywhere\u2026they permeate.\u201d (21) From this it is not far to reason that there is a \u201ctransformative potential of the visual.\u201d (15) We often talk about early cultures\/peoples being oral cultures, being storytellers.\u00a0 We also talk about our current American culture as being a visual culture. I think that early cultures were as much visual cultures as oral. Earlier cultures did not practice their visuality in fully the same way or with the same tools that we practice our visuality today, but unless we artificially limit what we would choose to call \u201cvisual\u201d then they must be as visual in at least Pink\u2019s sense of understanding that the visual permeates. (21) Visual ethnographies become keenly perceived and recorded instances within such cultures.\u00a0 Visual ethnographies become constructed [and conflicted] narratives what Pink offers Clifford having suggested as \u201cfictions.\u201d (10)<\/p>\n

This is not fiction in the negative sense per se, but a recognition of the limitations of any given act and the multiplicity of goals\/perspectives for any project (even unknown goals) that must necessarily be present due to the amount of intermingling of ideas taking place.\u00a0 Pink shows the idea of \u201cintermingling\u201d is much more healthy when it comes to fictions rather than fictions of \u201cpurity.\u201d\u00a0 Intermingling allows for intercultural and social collaboration(s) whereas pur-itanical ideas stem from and lead toward Pharisaicism. (21)<\/p>\n

Finally, I greatly appreciated Pink\u2019s emphasis on human rights and dignity.\u00a0 I found her reflections on the ideas of seeking permission of participants, on being concerned for the well-being of the participant, and on grappling with the interconnections that transpire in long-term participant-observation situations (ie. becoming friends), to be very thoughtful and needed.<\/p>\n

Certainly, there is room for more VE practices to be utilized and material to be produced and distributed in research related to Christ-centered, globally and interculturally connecting principles and themes.\u00a0 It will be good to be a small part of such utilizing, producing and distributing in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Pink\u2019s Doing Visual Ethnography (2006, 2nd ed.) is a solidly researched and articulated text that offers an in-depth overview of utilizing the image \u2013 through various forms and methods \u2013 as viable research aid. The text does offer an overview, but it really is an overview offered for someone already decently versed in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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":[2,273],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-pink-ve","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2902,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions\/2902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}