Using images as data in political violence research

Abstract

Political violence research explores why and how human rights abuses occur and how interveners can mitigate violations. Images can be useful data for these projects because they are telling reflections of political actors’ ideologies and choices. Images are often windows into organizational strategy: the visuals that actors mobilize reveal beliefs about which symbols and narratives will resonate and which audiences they will target. Here, I use my experience collecting and analyzing images from Northern Irish archives to outline this methodological approach and to demonstrate the promise of using images as data. I explore benefits and shared challenges across fields: collecting, verifying, and sourcing images, interpreting and understanding them in context, and comparing and extrapolating from them generates a host of practical, methodological, and ethical considerations important for grounded human security work.

Notes

1 Pro-British paramilitary groups, known as “loyalists,” also produced visuals advancing their cause and calling attention to incarcerated members.

2 Because Pinterest and other online image boards are popular and their attributions appear largely unregulated, verifying archival information can be difficult. Image searches and other superficial research often return inaccurate information about conflict images from these pages.

3 This is one of many interpretive approaches for images-as-data projects.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Meredith Loken

Meredith Loken is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam.