“If I had power, I would stop injustices in the world”: Photovoice’s experiences with young people from disadvantaged urban communities

ABSTRACT

Based on participatory research with a group of young people of 13 to 17 years old from a socially vulnerable community of Porto (Portugal), this article proposes a reflection and debate about what conditions these young people find for citizen participation in the relationship with their communities. Faced with a fragmented urban landscape, constituted by socially marginalized communities, which often instigate asymmetrical power relations and situations of territorial stigmatization and social exclusion, young people come across constant social challenges. Through the photovoice method, the youngsters were encouraged to research the community reality that surrounds them; to carefully observe and analyze the contexts and express them visually. This article presents results produced by this research experience, and how it facilitated debates and interaction with young people, allowing us to understand better their reality and the ways they see it and act in it.

KEYWORDS:

• Young people’s participation
• citizenship
• marginalized urban communities
• photovoice
• social justice

During the dialogs, one of the youngsters mentioned that at school the teachers “talk about participation, but they do not let us participate,” an observation that was common among the remaining boys and girls of the group. On several occasions, the group complained about the school environment, which did not encourage student’s participation. Indeed, most of the group said they felt disregarded and discredited in and out of school by adults in general, just because they were younger. “They are always telling me to shut up,” said a young girl, when the group was discussing young people getting involved in politics and proposing changes in the communities where they live. Although some young people felt, somehow, distant from public spaces due to the feeling of insecurity, they want to use them as spaces for socializing, and expressing themselves.

“If I had power, I would stop injustices in the world,” said one of the young boys from the group, revealing a wish to be able to contribute to enhance his community. The boy was supported by one of the girls, who reinforced the idea by saying “we would like to do something more, but we don’t have the power to do it. Sometimes, I feel the older ones don’t believe we are capable.” These research data and experiences allowed us to understand the willingness of these young people to become actively involved in building and improving their communities. At the same time, through the photographic exercises and the open-mindedness of collective debates, it was possible to observe the necessity of these young people to express themselves, and to be seen, heard, and considered by society and in several moments of decision on matters that concern them.

In a later stage, the photographs taken by the young people were printed, presented to local councillors, and displayed in a public exhibition in one of the city council galleries as shown in figure 4. At the opening of the exhibition, a debate was held between the young research partners and local government councillors, with the intent of reaching out and influencing policy-decision-makers. In this way, through their photographs, the group tried to draw attention to aspects to be improved in their reality, to a positive change in the lives of the communities to which they belong.

Figure 4. The group in the exhibition of their photographs and in the discussion with local policy-decision-makers (July 2021).

City councillor’s, a teacher from local school, a social researcher and the rest of the community were mobilized to see the exhibition of the young people’s photographs and to listen to their concerns and demands for change. The young people talked about their motivations and proposed to the local government be more attentive to the needs of young and old people, to give them a safer and more dignified life in their community. The young group also suggested closer and more collaborative relations between youngsters and policymakers, and the creation of dialogue spaces where it is possible for young people to participate and propose practical solutions to the community challenges. This was a moment that it was possible to observe that the group felt safe and empowered to talk about their daily challenges and suggest more equal opportunities and justice.

A member of a local government listened and noted the speeches of each young person, stating that it was a unique and particularly important moment of listening, reflection, and debate on issues that concern younger people. Especially when it comes to young people from socially vulnerable communities, who usually do not find spaces to be heard and seen. The councillor admitted that the community borough does not have mechanisms to reach out to young people to listen to their needs and to consult them to be part of decision-making on issues that affect them. However, he reported that he would take their suggestions into consideration to improve aspects of life in the community where they live, such as outdoor play equipment’s. He even said that the community playing space was already being renovated and improved.

Concluding remarks

This research emerges from seeking to understand the social and education conditions that young people from disadvantaged urban communities find to exercise their citizen participation. Based on participatory and visual methods as photovoice, this study aims to contribute to reflection and debate on the challenges of formal, non-formal and informal education for citizenship. Simultaneously, it is considered that practical learning for citizen participation should be co-constructed in the relation to the diversity of cultures, communities, and forms of expression of young people, as well as their needs, and desires for affirmation as citizens with rights.

The participatory methodological approach mobilized in this research affirmed the importance of mechanisms for youth empowerment (Morrell, 2004), which facilitate the construction of citizenship within the community. The involvement of young people as partners in the research allowed better understanding of their diversity of cultures and forms of action. Research skills were encouraged among young people, so they could explore their relationship with their city and communities. This partnership facilitated proximity to young people from vulnerable communities and open the way for further reflections on young people’s access and opportunities for participation. In this way, the practice of photovoice made it possible for the group to look at their communities reflexively, allowing an interaction and open debate about their photographs, producing critical perspectives, and suggesting proposals for change.

The city could define itself as a space produced by its citizens and for that, it is necessary to recognize and consider the participation rights of those who are excluded from it, namely young people. Thus, it is required to expand participation spaces for youngsters beyond what is limited by their role as students, extending their actions and learnings outside the school (Madeira, 2013). To build an inclusive and participatory city, it is required to create spaces for collaborative learning and to know how to incorporate the contribution of young people (Garcia et al., 2019). In addition to understanding and recognizing the social diversity of these marginalized urbanites, it is crucial to acknowledge the value and role that young people have in the social structure and community-building processes.

The European strategy that promotes the involvement of young people in democratic participation must also pay attention to the practical obstacles that young people face in their daily lives that limit their participation. We refer to the social inequalities and urban socio-spatial segregation that constitute barriers to access to important liberties and rights, such as the right to participation as an exercise of citizenship. These barriers are compounded by other obstacles based on age, social origin, gender, ethnicity, religion, and capabilities discrimination that keep young people excluded from participating while remaining subordinate to the adults’ agendas (Madeira, 2013).

The participatory research experience helped us to understand how young people can appropriate several resources to claim their right to participate, to express themselves, and to contribute actively to research. In this study, we observe that the practice of visual methods with young people strengthened the construction of a social and educational portrait. Photovoice generated a dynamic learning process, in which each young person researched, reflected, and represented his or her community collectively, sharing subjectivities, which could then be translated into collective experiences. Photovoice’s experience also allowed people involved – researcher and research partners – to be brought closer, mitigating asymmetric power relations, and nurturing more horizontal interactions. The visual participatory research methods enabled the co-construction of knowledge, which incorporated the opportunity of this group to create and explore different views and reflections about their community and city, and to produce critical perspectives and new meanings. This process, supported by open spaces of co-creation, plural dialogs and creative and emancipatory experiences, materialized possibilities of expression and participation.

It is by exercising the right to participate that young people learn to participate. In this way, schools are expected to be responsible for the education of citizens, but it is also in the daily challenges of communities that young citizens learn to be so. Citizenship should be promoted and practiced at school in connection with life outside school, in the different contexts of life in society, namely in the use, construction and transformation of the city. The school and the local communities that surround it are important fields for the development of educational and participatory experiences, and knowledge production. By recognizing the citizen participation of young people as a social and community project of relevance on a global scale, is strengthened a collective commitment to democracy and social justice.

Therefore, contexts may be created where rights may be claimed; in this case, the right to the participation of younger people, creating forms of expression and action that embody new educational and social intervention experiences (Madeira, 2013). Opportunities may arise for these young people to take advantage of various resources and participate equally (Gaitán & Liebel, 2011), and in dialogue with diversity (Araújo, 2007), in the creation of spaces to produce transformative actions in their community (Freire, 1997). In this context, “many possible worlds” can be built (Santos, 2005, p. 15), with creativity, inclusion, and social justice.

Acknowledgments

All the young people who kindly collaborated in this research and made it possible.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and by the European Social Fund, under the Human Capital Operational Programme (POCH) from Portugal 2020 Programme [Grant no. Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia SFRH/BD/132196/2017].