Emancipatory Visions: Using Visual Methods to Coconstruct Knowledge with Older Adults

• Published in: The Gerontologist 2022-11, Vol.62 (10), p.1402-1408
• Main Authors: Reyes, Laurent, Shellae Versey, H, Yeh, Jarmin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aging; Citizen participation; College students; Colonialism; Community research; Gerontology; Identity; Information dissemination; Intersectionality; Older people; Power structure; Qualitative research; Reflexivity; Service learning; Social justice; Teaching
• ISSN: 0016-9013; 1758-5341
• DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnac046

This article calls for gerontologists to engage with visual methods in qualitative research as an innovative tool for community-engaged research that has potential to advance social justice in gerontology. Reflections about using visual methods from the intersectional standpoint of the authors, 3 younger women of color, are presented. In Working the Hyphen, J. Yeh shows how interpersonal dynamics are fundamental to visual methods and that attention to identity can provide new insights into aging while also reconstituting existing power dynamics that researchers must carefully consider. In Employing Elicitation Techniques With Experts, L. Reyes discusses how a colonial lens limits understandings of civic participation and erases contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) older adults, proposing that elicitation techniques offer opportunities for BIPOC older adults to contribute their expertise to the research process and dissemination of findings beyond an academic audience. In Pedagogy and Practicality, H. S. Versey describes promises and complexities of scaling visual methods on multiple levels—teaching future generations of researchers the philosophy and practice of photovoice; negotiating university and community relationships through a service-learning project; and navigating identity between herself, her students, and research participants. In sharing our self-narratives, we integrate reflexivity into the research process and challenge power dynamics in knowledge construction.