Claudia Mitchell – författare

Participatory Visual Methodologies in Global Public Health focuses on the use of participatory visual methodologies such as photovoice, participatory video (including cellphilming or the use of cell phones to make videos), drawing and mapping in public health research. These approaches are modes of inquiry that can engage participants and communities, eliciting evidence about their own health and well-being, as well as modes of representation and modes of production in the co-creation of knowledge, and modes of dissemination in relation to knowledge translation and mobilization. Thus, the production by a group of girls or young women of a set of photos or videos from their own visual perspective can offer new evidence on how, for example, they see sexual violence. Unlike other data such as those collected through surveys or even conventional interviews, the images they have produced not only inform the empirical evidence, but also do not need to remain in a laboratory or the office of a researcher. They can, through exhibitions and screenings, reach various audiences: school or health personnel, parents and community members, and perhaps also policy-makers. This collection offers a critical overview for students, practitioners, researchers and policy-makers working in or concerned with the use of participatory methodologies in public health around the globe. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Public Health.

The place of childhood in popular culture is one that invites new readings both on childhood itself, but also on approaches to studying childhood. Discussing different methods of researching children's popular culture, they argue that the interplay of the age of the players, the status of their popular culture, the transience of the objects, and indeed the ephemerality - and long lastingness - of childhood, all contribute to what could be regarded as a particularized space for childhood studies - and one that challenges many of the conventions of "doing research" involving children.

The place of childhood in popular culture is one that invites new readings both on childhood itself, but also on approaches to studying childhood. Discussing different methods of researching children's popular culture, they argue that the interplay of the age of the players, the status of their popular culture, the transience of the objects, and indeed the ephemerality - and long lastingness - of childhood, all contribute to what could be regarded as a particularized space for childhood studies - and one that challenges many of the conventions of "doing research" involving children.

Drawing upon diverse and specific examples of self-study, described here by the practitioners themselves, this unique book formulates a methodological framework for self-study in education.This collection brings together a diverse and international range of self-studies carried out in teacher education, each of which has a different perspective to offer on issues of method and methodology, including:* memory work* fictional practice* collaborative autobiography* auto-ethnography* phenomenology* image-based approaches.Such ethical issues likely to arise from self-study as informed consent, self-disclosure and crises of representation are also explored with depth and clarity.As method takes centre stage in educational and social scientific research, and self-study becomes a key tool for research, training, practice and professional development in education, Just Who Do We Think We Are? provides an invaluable resource for anyone undertaking this form of practitioner research.

Drawing upon diverse and specific examples of self-study, described here by the practitioners themselves, this unique book formulates a methodological framework for self-study in education.This collection brings together a diverse and international range of self-studies carried out in teacher education, each of which has a different perspective to offer on issues of method and methodology, including:* memory work* fictional practice* collaborative autobiography* auto-ethnography* phenomenology* image-based approaches.Such ethical issues likely to arise from self-study as informed consent, self-disclosure and crises of representation are also explored with depth and clarity.As method takes centre stage in educational and social scientific research, and self-study becomes a key tool for research, training, practice and professional development in education, Just Who Do We Think We Are? provides an invaluable resource for anyone undertaking this form of practitioner research.

Memory work – the conscious remembering and study of individual and shared memories – is increasingly being acknowledged as a key pedagogical tool in working with children. Giving students opportunities and support to remember and study their selves as individuals and as communities allows them to see their future as something that belongs to them, and that they can influence in some way for the better. This edited volume brings together essays from scholars who are studying the interconnections between pedagogy and memory in the context of social themes and social inquiry within educational research. The book provides a range of perspectives on the social and pedagogical relevance of memory studies to the educational arena in relation to the themes of memory and method, revisiting childhood, memory and place, addressing political conflict, sexuality and embodiment, and inter-generational studies.

Memory work – the conscious remembering and study of individual and shared memories – is increasingly being acknowledged as a key pedagogical tool in working with children. Giving students opportunities and support to remember and study their selves as individuals and as communities allows them to see their future as something that belongs to them, and that they can influence in some way for the better. This edited volume brings together essays from scholars who are studying the interconnections between pedagogy and memory in the context of social themes and social inquiry within educational research. The book provides a range of perspectives on the social and pedagogical relevance of memory studies to the educational arena in relation to the themes of memory and method, revisiting childhood, memory and place, addressing political conflict, sexuality and embodiment, and inter-generational studies.

What do you see when you think of teacher? Where does what you see come from? This is a book about the images of teachers and teaching which permeate the everyday lives of children and adults, shaping in important but unrecognised ways their notions of whom teachers are and what they do. The authors show how, using a creative interdisciplinary approach, it is possible to analyse drawings of teachers, television programmes, films, cartooons, comics and even Barbie dolls. Illustrated with colour reproductions and excerpts from interviews and journals, this book should appeal to teachers, academics and anyone who is interested in the popular culture of childhood, gender issues, professional identity and teacher education.

What do you see when you think of teacher? Where does what you see come from? This is a book about the images of teachers and teaching which permeate the everyday lives of children and adults, shaping in important but unrecognised ways their notions of whom teachers are and what they do. The authors show how, using a creative interdisciplinary approach, it is possible to analyse drawings of teachers, television programmes, films, cartooons, comics and even Barbie dolls. Illustrated with colour reproductions and excerpts from interviews and journals, this book should appeal to teachers, academics and anyone who is interested in the popular culture of childhood, gender issues, professional identity and teacher education.

Designed for use by teachers and teacher educators, this text should help both novice and experienced teachers reinterpret their working lives. The reader is led on a path of personal exploration that goes beyond standard approaches and leads from the personal to the critical. Illustrative material is drawn from all levels, from kindergarten to high school, to illuminate issues and questions fundamental to teachers' lives. Film and literary narratives supply further case studies and contribute to the fusion of critical reflection and everyday realities that typically inform teachers' experiences of work.

Participatory video is a growing area of research and an increasingly popular tool among practitioners, researchers, and NGOs working with communities around the world. The Handbook of Participatory Video advances the field, engaging critically with it as a research methodology and method and interrogating assumptions about its emancipatory nature and potential for social change. In twenty-eight chapters, contributors examine historical, ethical, methodological, and technical aspects of participatory video and discuss power, ownership, and knowledge production. The Handbook is organized into six parts: Locating Participatory Video, Participatory Video as a Critical Research Methodology, Working with Visual Data, Power and Ethics in Participatory Video, Dissemination and Reaching New Audiences, and Communities and Technologies. This benchmark work takes an interdisciplinary and global approach and will be invaluable to researchers, practitioners, and students.

Life in the countryside, often perceived as either idyllic or depleted, has long been misrepresented. Challenging the stereotypes and myths that surround the idea of rurality, Our Rural Selves interrogates and represents individual and collective memories of childhood in rural landscapes and small towns. Drawing on visual artifacts whose origins range from the early twentieth century to today, such as photographs, films, objects, picture books, and digital games, contributors offer readings of childhood that are geographically, ethnically, and culturally diverse. They examine the memories of Indigenous children, the experiences of back-to-the-land youth, and boom-or-bust childhoods within the petroleum, farming, and fishing industries. Illustrating often neglected and overlooked aspects of adolescence, this collection suggests new ways of studying social connectedness and collective futures. Innovative and revealing in its use of visual studies, autoethnography, and memory-work, Our Rural Selves explores representation, imagination, and what it means to grow up rural in Canada.

Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods brings together visual studies and childhood studies to explore images of childhood in the study of rurality and rural life. The volume highlights how the voices of children themselves remain central to investigations of rural childhoods. Contributions look at representations and experiences of rural childhoods from both the Global North and Global South (including U.S., Canada, Haiti, India, Sweden, Slovenia, South Africa, Russia, Timor-Leste, and Colombia) and consider visuals ranging from picture books to cell phone video to television.

Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods brings together visual studies and childhood studies to explore images of childhood in the study of rurality and rural life. The volume highlights how the voices of children themselves remain central to investigations of rural childhoods. Contributions look at representations and experiences of rural childhoods from both the Global North and Global South (including U.S., Canada, Haiti, India, Sweden, Slovenia, South Africa, Russia, Timor-Leste, and Colombia) and consider visuals ranging from picture books to cell phone video to television.

Examining context-specific conditions in which girls live, learn, work, play, and organize deepens the understanding of place-making practices of girls and young women worldwide. Focusing on place across health, literary and historical studies, art history, communications, media studies, sociology, and education allows for investigations of how girlhood is positioned in relation to interdisciplinary and transnational research methodologies, media environments, geographic locations, history, and social spaces. This book offers a comprehensive reading on how girlhood scholars construct and deploy research frameworks that directly engage girls in the research process.

The Use of Drawings in Social Change Research is a practice-oriented guide to draw-and-write and draw-and-talk methods in qualitative research. It offers a clear, structured account of how drawing, paired with participant explanation, can be used to generate and interpret visual–narrative data in research concerned with social change. Grounded in applied work, the book demonstrates how these methods operate across diverse social, cultural, and institutional settings. The book provides step-by-step guidance on designing prompts, supporting participants, and analysing drawings alongside written or spoken accounts. It addresses ethical questions of consent, power, language, and dissemination, equipping readers to work responsibly with visual material. Contributions from scholars working internationally show how drawing practices can surface nuanced accounts of lived experience across age groups, disciplines, and research aims. The final section extends the methodology into emerging areas, including creative and embodied approaches, comics-based research, and AI-supported practices. This book is written for researchers, practitioners, and postgraduate students engaged in qualitative, arts-based, participatory, educational, health, or child-centred research, particularly those working on issues of social justice and social change.

The Use of Drawings in Social Change Research is a practice-oriented guide to draw-and-write and draw-and-talk methods in qualitative research. It offers a clear, structured account of how drawing, paired with participant explanation, can be used to generate and interpret visual–narrative data in research concerned with social change. Grounded in applied work, the book demonstrates how these methods operate across diverse social, cultural, and institutional settings. The book provides step-by-step guidance on designing prompts, supporting participants, and analysing drawings alongside written or spoken accounts. It addresses ethical questions of consent, power, language, and dissemination, equipping readers to work responsibly with visual material. Contributions from scholars working internationally show how drawing practices can surface nuanced accounts of lived experience across age groups, disciplines, and research aims. The final section extends the methodology into emerging areas, including creative and embodied approaches, comics-based research, and AI-supported practices. This book is written for researchers, practitioners, and postgraduate students engaged in qualitative, arts-based, participatory, educational, health, or child-centred research, particularly those working on issues of social justice and social change.

Participatory Visual Methodologies in Global Public Health focuses on the use of participatory visual methodologies such as photovoice, participatory video (including cellphilming or the use of cell phones to make videos), drawing and mapping in public health research. These approaches are modes of inquiry that can engage participants and communities, eliciting evidence about their own health and well-being, as well as modes of representation and modes of production in the co-creation of knowledge, and modes of dissemination in relation to knowledge translation and mobilization. Thus, the production by a group of girls or young women of a set of photos or videos from their own visual perspective can offer new evidence on how, for example, they see sexual violence. Unlike other data such as those collected through surveys or even conventional interviews, the images they have produced not only inform the empirical evidence, but also do not need to remain in a laboratory or the office of a researcher. They can, through exhibitions and screenings, reach various audiences: school or health personnel, parents and community members, and perhaps also policy-makers. This collection offers a critical overview for students, practitioners, researchers and policy-makers working in or concerned with the use of participatory methodologies in public health around the globe. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Public Health.

This handbook explores arts-based educational research, showcasing a rich tapestry of perspectives and methodologies that intersect the arts with educational research to foster transformative learning and leadership. The book includes chapters from academics and practitioners based in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Iceland, India, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, the USA and the UK who work across various educational settings. Structured into five thematic sections: The Creative Educator, Artistic Identities, Artscaping Community, Creative Advocacy, and Artful Leadership, the handbook delves into how arts-based research can enhance creative teaching practices, explore and nurture artistic identities, foster community engagement, advocate for social change, and reimagine educational leadership. Each section combines theoretical exploration with practical applications, offering insights into how the arts can facilitate personal and societal transformation. The chapters highlight the flexibility of arts-based research in addressing challenges such as curriculum decolonisation, sustainability, inclusivity, and the empowerment of marginalised voices. The handbook offers a foundational resource for those looking to enrich their scholarship and practice with artistic and creative approaches.

Doing Visual Research offers an innovative introduction to the use of photography, collaborative video, drawing, objects, multi-media production and installation in research. Claudia Mitchell explains how visual methods can be used as modes of inquiry as well as modes of representation for social research.

 

The book looks at a range of conceptual and practical approaches to a range of tools and methods, whilst also highlighting the interpretive and ethical issues that arise when engaging in visual research. Claudia Mitchell draws on her own work in the field of visual research throughout to offer extensive examples from a variety of settings and with a variety of populations.

Topics covered include:

• Photographs and memory work studies

• Video and social change

• Participatory archiving with drawings and photos

• Working with images/Writing about images

• Can visual methods make a difference? From practice to policy

 

Doing Visual Research takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of visual research, producing a practical introduction to the subject that will be of great use to students and researchers across the social sciences, and in particular in education, communication, sociology, gender, development, social work and public health.

Doing Visual Research offers an innovative introduction to the use of photography, collaborative video, drawing, objects, multi-media production and installation in research. Claudia Mitchell explains how visual methods can be used as modes of inquiry as well as modes of representation for social research.

 

The book looks at a range of conceptual and practical approaches to a range of tools and methods, whilst also highlighting the interpretive and ethical issues that arise when engaging in visual research. Claudia Mitchell draws on her own work in the field of visual research throughout to offer extensive examples from a variety of settings and with a variety of populations.

Topics covered include:

• Photographs and memory work studies

• Video and social change

• Participatory archiving with drawings and photos

• Working with images/Writing about images

• Can visual methods make a difference? From practice to policy

 

Doing Visual Research takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of visual research, producing a practical introduction to the subject that will be of great use to students and researchers across the social sciences, and in particular in education, communication, sociology, gender, development, social work and public health.

This book demonstrates how data from participatory visual methods can take people and communities beyond ideological engagement, initiating new conversations and changing perspectives, policy debates, and policy development. These methods include, for example, photo-voice, participatory video, drawing/mapping, and digital storytelling.

Organised around a series of tools that have been used across health, education, environmental, and sociological research, Participatory Visual Methodologies illustrates how to maintain participant engagement in decision-making, navigate critical issues around ethics, track policies, and maximize the potential of longitudinal studies. Tools discussed include:

Pedagogical screeningsDigital dialogue devicesUpcycling and ‘speaking back’ interventionsParticipant-led policy briefs

An authoritative and accessible guide to how participatory visual methods and arts-based methods can influence social change, this book will help any postgraduate researcher looking to contribute to policy dialogue.

This book demonstrates how data from participatory visual methods can take people and communities beyond ideological engagement, initiating new conversations and changing perspectives, policy debates, and policy development. These methods include, for example, photo-voice, participatory video, drawing/mapping, and digital storytelling.

Organised around a series of tools that have been used across health, education, environmental, and sociological research, Participatory Visual Methodologies illustrates how to maintain participant engagement in decision-making, navigate critical issues around ethics, track policies, and maximize the potential of longitudinal studies. Tools discussed include:

Pedagogical screeningsDigital dialogue devicesUpcycling and ‘speaking back’ interventionsParticipant-led policy briefs

An authoritative and accessible guide to how participatory visual methods and arts-based methods can influence social change, this book will help any postgraduate researcher looking to contribute to policy dialogue.

Positionality and researcher reflexivity – how to account for one’s subject position – remain as challenges for new researchers. But they also remain as challenges for experienced researchers, who are often involved in multiple research projects simultaneously. Where Am I in the Picture? sheds light on the idea of researcher positionality through visual methodologies, particularly in the context of studying rurality in Canada, Sweden, and South Africa.The book is intended for new and experienced researchers seeking to decolonize their own perspectives in research in the social sciences and humanities. It incorporates photographs, drawings, and memory work to highlight the social constructedness of what counts as rural. Drawing together compelling narratives from researchers about their positionality in studying rurality, the book highlights a need for greater attention to "where we are in the picture" more broadly. It suggests that when it comes to the rural, researchers need to rethink the interplay of dominant images, insider and outsider perspectives, and what this interplay means in relation to interpretation. Where Am I in the Picture? presents a new vision of how to take into consideration positionality in research.

Collaborative Methods explores the intersections between participatory data analysis and feminist research—traditions that complement each other but are rarely examined together. The chapters highlight two key approaches: methods where participants help analyze the data they contributed to, and non-hierarchical, collaborative methods involving research teams. Contributors demonstrate how to choose an approach that best aligns with one's research questions, study context, and participant availability and interest. They also encourage scholars to thoroughly describe their methodological designs, decision points, and processes rather than keeping the focus only on their findings. Through a feminist lens, the authors present a range of perspectives, resisting a singular approach. Instead, they engage with the fluid and contested nature of feminist research, each author drawing on different feminist traditions to shape their work. The volume encourages scholars to think critically about the co-production of knowledge, making it an essential resource for social science researchers and students who are invested in feminist and participatory methodologies. Contributors: Nesa Bandarchian Rashti, Emma C. Cognet, L. Rebeca Esquivel, Jessica Fields, Sarah Flicker, Geetanjali Gill, Jillian Grace Goyeau, Nadha Hassen, Rebekah Hutten, Terra Léger-Goodes, Meegwun Logan, Catherine Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Mitchell McLarnon, Claudia Mitchell, Milka Nyariro, Kathryn Kendal Ryan, Kaylan C. Schwarz, Grace Skahan, Catherine Vanner, Angelina Weenie, Dawn Wiseman, 4theRecord Team.

The early 2000s were still a time of optimism and exuberance in newly democratic South Africa. Transformations were afoot, and there was a courageous desire for change, even with the stark realities of HIV and AIDS-related illnesses looming. At the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, Nkosi Johnson, aged 11, took the stage to give an impassioned speech emphasizing the importance of young people in responding to the AIDS pandemic. His call heralded an explosion of youth-focused initiatives, including the project that started this book. In My life follows the paths of a group of racially diverse young AIDS activists from Khayelitsha and Atlantis, first brought together as part of an educational HIV-prevention programme in Cape Town in 2002. Over the next twenty years, we follow their inspiring and harrowing journeys, as they move from hopeful and passionate teen activists, through the tragedies and triumphs of transitioning to adulthood. With candour, they tell stories of hardships and loss, mental health issues, grief and violence, but also of personal transformations, love, friendship, artistic achievements, community connection and thrilling social justice wins. Connected to each other, and to their communities, their stories provide a glimpse into the long tale of activism and of educational work, forever asking the question: what difference does it make. As the early post-apartheid enthusiasm and activism transformed and changed, stories have been a place where one could find solace and refuge, or find ways to be connected again. The stories in In My Life reflect the shifting times and context in South Africa, the transformation of the country and the complicated life stories of everyday life in the cracks of those who are artists, writers, creators, activists, researchers, teachers and many other things in between and beyond.