Reframing photographic research methods in Human Geography: a long-term reflection

Abstract

This paper offers a long-term reflection on the introduction of a photographic research project into a third-year undergraduate Human Geography module. The findings indicate that, whilst the students valued the project, it did impact on their overall performance, their evaluation of the module and the ways in which they spoke about it. The paper complements other discussions of photographic research methods in Human Geography by confirming their popularity and value to students' learning but argues that their introduction requires planning and reflection to mitigate some of the unintended consequences noted here and to maximize their benefits.

Keywords::

• photography
• landscape
• urban
• cultural
• visual
• Human Geography

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all of the students on PCI for a wealth of ideas and contributions to this project and to those colleagues who have contributed to moderation over the years. Special thanks to David Thompson, Rachel Carter and Melody Bailey for permission to reproduce their work in this paper. This project was supported by a fellowship from the Centre for Active Learning at the University of Gloucestershire.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. The first essay assessment was retained but ceased to be a review essay and instead students were asked to respond to more “traditional” essay questions. In the first year following this assessment change students were asked to write an essay discussing the potentials of photographic research methods in Human Geography, the intention being that this would act as a foundation for their own original photographic research project work. However, some concern was expressed through module evaluations that the entire module assessment was concerned with photographic research methods which posed a risk for those students who found this difficult and did not reflect the breadth of subject contents of the module. In subsequent years this essay question was replaced with a series of options that aligned more closely with specific themes explored on the module. Some of the essay titles that students were given the option of responding to after this change included: “To what extent is Modernist architecture a relic in the British urban landscape?”; “British urban landscapes reflect cultural diversity in a number of different ways. Examine this argument discussing a range of examples.”, “In what ways is the production of urban landscapes in British cities increasingly bound up with the desire to promote positive urban images?” and “To what extent do new urban developments both reflect and perpetuate paranoia and social exclusion?”

^2. For an outline of these three options see Hall (2009).

^3. The UK operates an external examiner system in higher education. Each degree course, or in some cases clusters of cognate courses, will appoint an experienced academic from another university to act as an independent scrutiniser of practices and standards on the degree. The external examiner is typically present at end of year exam board meetings where cohort results are considered and confirmed. A key role of the external examiner is to confirm the appropriateness of standards and their comparability to those of other UK universities. The external examiner is also able to make recommendations about the course generally and highlight examples of good practice. External examiners are typically in post for a period of three or four years.