What can voice do? Combining narrative methods and participant-produced photography to explore contemporary cancer survivorship

Abstract

‘Giving voice’ to marginalised individuals or communities is a commonly stated aim of studies employing visual research methods, particularly studies on the experiences of ill people. This points to the significance of voice as a political concept in social justice endeavours, calling for profound engagement with the ontological and epistemological assumptions around voice in visual methodologies. Drawing on Mazzei and Jackson’s work on voice in qualitative inquiry, and Azoulay’s understanding of photography as an infinite series of encounters, I interrogate the concept of voice in participant-led visual methodologies. To do so, I engage with my encounters with two research participants as part of a larger study on cancer survivorship conducted in Australia. These participants had cancers that are in lay and epidemiological knowledges linked with lifestyle; something that both researcher and participants grappled with and that affected their research, photographic and narrative practice. In these encounters I trace what voice can do, outlining a conceptual approach to voice integrating more-than-human agential capacities that traverse temporal, spatial and social boundaries. I argue for shifting emphasis from ‘giving voice’ to ‘thinking with voice,’ concurrently situating research employing participant-led visual methods within the tenets of relational research more broadly.

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge Australian Research Council (DP150100414) Chief Investigators Prof. Alex Broom, A/Prof. Emma Kirby, and Dr. Katherine Kenny, Investigator Prof. John Oliffe as well as the clinical collaborators A/Profs Zarnie Lwin and David Wyld at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. I also thank all participants of this study for telling their stories.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

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

Notes

[1] Translates into English as, ‘No, thank you, I no longer smoke.’ (Deutsche Krebshilfe, n.d.). The clip can be watched here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcFMrV2P11Q.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council [Discovery Grant DP150100414], and an Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship. It was also partially supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course [Project ID CE200100025].

Notes on contributors

Stefanie Plage

Stefanie Plage, PhD is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Social Science, and a fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. Her research explores the intersections of culture and experience in health and illness.