Advanced Topics in Macro Social Work

Photovoice is a process in which people – typically those with limited power due to poverty, language barriers, race, class, ethnicity, gender, culture, or other circumstances – use video or photo images to document their environment and experiences and share them with others. It uses visual methods to communicate lived experience and to create a basis for discussion and action. The images are often used, with captions composed by the photographers, to bring the realities of the photographers’ lives home to the public and policy makers and to spur change. However, photovoice can also be a method used direct practice, evaluation, and management settings.

This mini-course will cover basic methods for using Photovoice methods with individuals, groups, and communities. The course will provide an overview of the method and its application in different contexts, both domestic and intergernational, and how visual images can be a powerful form for communication. This section of the class will include a visit to the UM Museum of Art to view their collection of documentary photography. The ethical dimensions of this method will also be covered. The remainder of the class will teach methods for photovoice and engage students in their own photovoice project. We will end with an exhibit of photos from the course that will take place in our School of Social Work.

Relevant core competencies:

Values & Ethics: Demonstrates how value base, ethical standards, and principles of the social work profession are applied to practice.

Critical Thinking: Actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication.

Assessment: Applying assessment strategies and other data collection methods.