A qualitative method to “make visible” the world of intercultural relationships: the photovoice in social psychology

ABSTRACT

In recent decades, the study of intercultural relations and the complexity of relationships due to the migration phenomenon have become more important for social scientists to analyze. The aim of this article is to show that photovoice, a methodology that belongs to the field of participatory action research, can be a useful qualitative tool in social psychology to analyze intercultural relationships. This method offers participants the opportunity to discuss and interpret their photographs in a group, involving people in a process of active listening and dialogue that can encourage policy makers to promote social change. Social psychology is encouraged to use photovoice to engage communities facing intercultural challenges; thus, a re-appraisal of the Lewin tradition is necessary. Photovoice could be used to “make visible” and meaningful the world of intercultural relationships, eliciting the transformative power of qualitative research.

KEYWORDS:

• Photovoice
• qualitative method
• participatory action research
• intercultural relationships

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura Migliorini

Laura Migliorini attained her Degree in Education and, in 1997, her PhD in Methodology of Research in Psychology at the University of Genoa (Italy). She was visiting graduate student, supervised by Prof. Barry Schneider, at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Department of Applied Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada. She has been a researcher at the University of Genoa (Italy), Faculty of Educational Sciences, in Social Psychology since 1999. She has also been Associate Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Genoa since 2005, where she teaches Community Psychology Method and Technique and Family Relation Psychology. Prof. Migliorini is a member of the team related to the Cultural Processes and Migrations PhD course. She has been responsible for several nationally and internationally funded research projects in the area of well-being and migration issues. She has published more than seventy scientific papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals and has written four books. Her research interests are acculturation and migration processes, family relationships and routine and rituals, and well-being studies. She is a scientific member of national and international congresses and reviewer for national and international journals.

Nadia Rania

Nadia Rania is Assistant Professor in Social Psychology at the Department of Education Sciences, University of Genoa (Italy) where she taught Social Psychology, Psychology of Groups and Community, Qualitative Methods, and now teaches Methods and Techniques of Group Intervention. Furthermore, she teaches in the College PhD program in Migration and Intercultural Processes, University of Genoa (Italy), and is coordinator of the PhD in Migrations and Intercultural Processes (XXVIII cycle). She obtained her PhD in Research Methods in Human Sciences at the University of Genoa (Italy). She is the author of several articles on migration issues. Her main topics of interest and research include family relationships, migration patterns and processes of acculturation, well-being and quality of life in adolescence, quality of life and well-being, routine and ritual in the life cycles of native and migrant peoples, and the use of qualitative methods in different groups and different contexts of research. Her scientific production includes over 50 works, including books and articles in national and international journals, and she is a reviewer for national and international journals.