Qualitative methods and practices in transcultural research with forced migrants: the Asylum Seekers Photographic Interview (ASPI) methodological protocol

ABSTRACT

The present study aims to describe the methodological procedures which led to the development of the ASPI, a photo-elicitation method aimed at exploring the life stories of Nigerian asylum seekers. The purposes of the manuscript are to share a research and methodological protocol for the development of similar methods as well as, through this, to extract and offer some methodological and operational research practices and criteria useful for transcultural research with forced migrants. The questioning attitude of researcher, intended as a methodological praxis in transcultural research, combined with the psychological function played by participatory research, which also engages a ‘third gaze’ on the traumatic experiences of asylum seekers, will be discussed to highlight and reflect upon the potentialities of qualitative research in this field.

KEYWORDS:

• Forced migration
• narrative methods
• photo elicitation
• transcultural research
• visual methods

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Respecting the definition of UNHCR, were considered asylum seekers persons who have sought international protection and whose requests for refugee status have not yet been adjudicated.

² The psychologists and the Italian teachers were employed within the centers and showed their interest in taking part to the focus groups to increase knowledge about the asylum seekers’ life experiences. Their presence was considered as an added value for the study considering that the research as well as the clinical practice with asylum seekers and refugees always implies an encounter between people who come from different cultural backgrounds. As such, the result of this meeting and the knowledge produced by the meeting is always an ‘hybrid’ between different social and personal representations.

³ Giulio Piscitelli (1981, Naples), was awarded a degree in Communication Studies, approached photography in 2008, and after graduation began working with Italian and foreign news agencies. His work is mainly related to current topics and in recent years he focused on the immigration crisis in Europe. His reports were published by national and international newspapers and magazines such as: Internazionale, New York Times, Espresso, Stern, Io donna, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Time, La Stampa, Vrji and others. Piscitelli currently lives and works in Naples.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francesca Tessitore

Francesca Tessitore, Research Fellow in Clinical Psychology at University of Salerno, Ph.D. Psychologist, SPI (Italian Psychoanalytic Society) and IPA (International Psychoanalytic Association) Candidate. Her main research areas cover the topics of forced migration, trauma, the relationship between trauma and narrative processes, the clinical intervention with traumatized patients survived to extreme traumatization, the extension of psychoanalysis to the social contexts, gender-based violence.

Giorgia Margherita

Giorgia Margherita, Associate Professor in Dynamic Psychology at University of Naples Federico II. Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Group Psychoanalyst Member of (I.I.P.G.) Italian Institute of Psychoanalysis Group, and (E.F.P.P.) European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Public Sector. Her main research areas cover the topic of migration and trauma, dream and dream work, the work with group and the groups intervention, gender-base violence.