What can a woman do with a camera? Turning the female gaze on poverty and HIV and AIDS in rural South Africa

Abstract

This article explores the use of participatory video in finding solutions to challenges faced by schools and communities in the contexts of poverty and the AIDS pandemic in one rural community in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. Locating the analysis within the study of feminist visual culture and the notion of the female gaze, the article focuses on a close reading of the production of a three‐minute video produced by women participating in a project involving teachers, learners, community healthcare workers, and parents. We use textual analysis to look at three levels of textuality: the primary text, the production text, and audience text. Working with video offers a critical way to engage more broadly with texts within qualitative research in education, to engage women in examining their everyday lives, and to make visible new possibilities for addressing the problems of AIDS and poverty.

Keywords:

• poverty
• participatory video
• PhotoVoice
• feminist visual culture
• female gaze
• production text
• HIV and AIDS

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the participation of the community members in the video‐making process, and especially the six producers of It all began with poverty. We wish to acknowledge the involvement of film maker Shannon Walsh in the video‐making workshops, Sally Giles and Ruan Henning for photographing, video‐taping, and providing technical assistance during the workshops, as well as the following workshop facilitators: Lucky Dubazane, Brenda‐Lee Ndlovu, Zolile Mamba‐Ndlovu, Kathleen Pithouse, as well as Jackie Simmons, and Nancy Lesko of Teachers College, Columbia University. We would also like to thank all of the young people, teachers, parents, and community health workers who enthusiastically gave off their time to participate in the video‐making workshops.

Notes

1. The video‐making workshops were part of the Learning Together project carried out by de Lange et al. (2003) involving teachers, community health care workers, learners, and parents using visual methodologies to address challenges and solutions in addressing poverty, gender violence, and HIV and AIDS.

2. Although one male, Sipho, was part of the production team of It all began with poverty, for a variety of reasons (none of which were clear to us during the workshop), he played a relatively small part in the video‐making process. The six women, for all intents and purposes, identified the key issues, and engaged in the main storyboarding, directing, and acting.

3. Part of what has been dubbed ‘AIDS denialism’ in South Africa includes various myths about the virus and its causes, as well as non‐testing for HIV. Thus, in some communities, supernatural factors, including witchcraft (being bewitched) are often blamed for unexplained illnesses.

4. Here we are referring to a photo exhibit mounted by the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa, Women Empowered: Inspiring Change in an Emerging World, showcasing the photos of Phil Borges. Officially opened for National Women’s Day, August 9, 2008 in Pretoria, the exhibition offered visual evidence of what counts as empowerment.