Participatory Video (PV) is used by groups to explore an issue of mutual concern, to document the opinions and aspirations of those participating, to construct a representation of this process in the form of a film and to pursue social change through this process.
This new curated reading list provides an insightful set of readings for anyone interested in sorting out how to use participatory video in activism, research and learning. Christabel Buchanan and Colin Anderson go on to describe:
PV is often used to expose an issue or injustice from the perspective of a marginalised community or several communities. It is used by groups to claim voice, to tell their own stories and to advance social change. People in social movements use participatory video as a way to facilitate relationship building, community development and to resolve tensions between different interest groups (Shaw 2012).
As a method of inquiry, it resonates with the emancipatory and democratising character of Participatory Action Research (PAR), especially when it is employed in a way which acknowledges and aims to deal with power relations and inequalities (Kindon 2003).
In some areas of international development work, PV is seen as a neutral catalyst for social change through awareness-raising and sharing knowledge. There is indeed a risk that PV can be instrumentalised and used as a mode of enrolling marginalised people into top-down research or development plans, limiting the agency of PV film-making groups, and undermining the emancipatory potential of PV.
Thus, as with other methods, PV demands a self-critical reflective process, especially when institutions are involved, in order to deliver on aims of emancipation and positive social transformation (Milne 2016, Shaw 2012).
See other curated reading lists here: Curated Reading Lists
(Photo: Tommie, Rakesh and Gibbo from Coventry Men's Shed presenting their film made using participatory video at a screening in London. Part of the Our Food PV project.