Using photography in research with young migrants: addressing questions of visibility, movement and personal spaces

Abstract

This article discusses the experience of using photography in a research project with young (prospective) migrants in Ghana and Italy. Photography can be an empowering research tool, one that offers young participants a degree of control over the research process and thus allows their points of view to emerge. However, researchers need to consider that the choice of subjects may be influenced by the children’s desire to avoid taking photographs in public, as they may attract attention and the act of pointing a camera may provoke unwanted questions and comments. Moreover, young people often lack the means to move independently, and this may further restrict the subjects they are able to photograph. Finally, they may resent adults’ intrusion into their free time and therefore see taking photographs as a chore. I argue that all these factors need to receive greater attention when choosing photography in research with young participants.

Keywords:

• Visual research
• photography
• children
• young people

Notes

1 For readability purposes, the terms ‘children’ and ‘young people’ are used as synonymous, in the awareness that there are objective and important differences which are determined by chronological age as well as geographical and historical specificities. Following the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) definition of a ‘child’ as ‘[…] every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier’ the term child will refer to people of 17 years or younger. In order to contextualise the young participants' responses, however, the precise age will be stated when quoting them.

2 In Ghana the conversations were in English, Ghana's official language. In Italy the conversation were held mostly in Italian, although a few children who had arrived very recently preferred to communicate in English. In this case, the conversations were translated concurrently to the transcription by the researcher.

3 The names used throughout this article are pseudonyms the young people chose for themselves.