Critical Visual Methodology: Photographs and Narrative Text as a Visual Autoethnography

Terry Ownby 1 *
More Detail
1 University of Central Missouri, USA
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 3, Issue January 2013 - Special Issue, pp. 1-24. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/5707
OPEN ACCESS   1870 Views   1653 Downloads   Published online: 01 Jan 2013
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

This paper considers how I combined unique qualitative methodologies in a recent study, which examined the construction of self-identity through photographs and narrative text as primary data, in order to develop a visual autoethnography. Critical visual methodology, grounded in Barthesian visual semiotics, was combined with traditional and non-traditional ethnographic methods to interrogate these data in order to construct the autoethnography. These data came from a gallery showing of my photographic exhibition: Wunderkammer: Specimen views of my postmodern life. The resultant analyses of narrative text and photographs revealed an underlying sub-text of significant racial encounters as well as several social and institutional ideological issues that contributed to my findings. Implications from this particular methodological design indicate usefulness not only in photography, but also in allied disciplines such as communication, education, cultural, and media studies. This form of analysis also finds a place in the broader notion of social or cultural identity.

CITATION

Ownby, T. (2013). Critical Visual Methodology: Photographs and Narrative Text as a Visual Autoethnography. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 3(January 2013 - Special Issue), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/5707

REFERENCES

  • Aiello, G. (2008). Visions of Europe: The semiotic production of transnational identity in contemporary European visual discourse (Doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, 2008). Dissertation Abstracts International. Retrieved June 19, 2009, from http://0-proquest.umi.com.catalog.library.colostate.edu/pqdweb?index=0&did=1554676211&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1245466237&clientId=14436
  • Banks, M. (2007). Using visual data in qualitative research. London: Sage.
  • Barrett, T. (2011). Criticizing photographs: An introduction to understanding images (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
  • Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies (A. Lavers, Trans.). New York: Hill and Wang. (Original work published 1957)
  • Barthes, R. (1977). Image, music, text (S. Heath, Trans.). New York: Hill and Wang. (Original work published in 1964)
  • Barthes, R. (1980). Camera lucida: Reflections on photography (R. Howard, Trans.). New York: Hill and Wang. (Original work published in 1980)
  • Boy Scouts of America. (2010). About the BSA. Retrieved Sept from http://www.scouting.org
  • Brotemarkle, B. D. (2004). Images of America: Titusville and Mims. Chicago: Arcadia.
  • Burke, D. (2007). An autoethnography of Whiteness. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest). (AAT 3268278)
  • Cahnmann, M. (2003). The craft, practice, and possibility of poetry in educational research. Educational Researcher, 32(3), 29-36.
  • Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  • Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics: The basics (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
  • Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • DYB. (2010). About Dixie: Democratic action. Retrieved from http://youth.dixie.org/ aboutdd08.htm
  • Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Ellis, C. (2004). The ethnographic I: A methodological novel about autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
  • Faris-Belt, (2012). The Elements of Photography: Understanding and Creating Sophisticated Images (2nd ed.).. Oxford: Focal Press.
  • Furman, R., Lietz, C., & Langer, C. L. (2006). The research poem in international social work: Innovations in qualitative methodology. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(3), 1-8
  • Hillcourt, W. (1959). Boy Scouts handbook: A handbook of training for citizenship through scouting. New Brunswick, NJ: Boy Scouts of America.
  • Jewitt, C., & Oyama, R. (2001). Visual meaning: A social semiotic approach. In T. van Leeuwen & C. Jewitt (Eds.), Handbook of visual analysis (pp. 134-156). London: Sage.
  • Langer, C. L., & Furman, R. (2004). Exploring identity and assimilation: Research and interpretive poems. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 5(2), Art. 5.
  • Little League Online. (2002, August 6). 1955 Little League team from Charleston, S.C., to be honored at Little League Baseball World Series. Retrieved from http://www.littleleague.org/media/newsarchive/07_2002/02cannonstreet.htm
  • Manning, J. T., & Hudson, R. H. (1999). Images of America: North Brevard County. Chicago: Arcadia.
  • Maxwell, J. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Ollerenshaw, J. A., & Creswell, J. W. (2002). Narrative research: A comparison of two restorying data analysis approaches. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(3), 329-347. doi: 10.1177/10778004008003008
  • Ownby, T. (2010). Wunderkammer: Specimens views of my postmodern life. Solo Exhibit (invited artist). Gallery 115, Art + Design Center, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO.
  • Ownby, T. (2011a). Wunderkammers, photographs, and growing up Southern: A visual semiotic analysis of self-identity through autoethnography. (Doctorial dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3454625)
  • Ownby, T. (2011b). Barthes, Wunderkammers, and Photography: The Beginnings of a Visual Autoethnography. PIEA Journal for Photography Education, 2(2). Retrieved from http://pieapma.org/ journal/journals/11-2011/
  • Pink, A. W. (1950). Gleanings in Genesis. Chicago: Moody Press.
  • Pink, S. (2007). Doing visual ethnography (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
  • Poindexter, C. C. (1998). Poetry as data analysis: Honoring the words of research participants. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 3(4), 22-25.
  • Richardson, L. (2000). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Rose, G. (1996). Teaching visualised geographies: Towards a methodology for.... Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 20(3), 281. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.cyrano.ucmo.edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=10&hid=107&sid=1b9d759e-6876-47c2-8dc7-979a4cb02856%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3Qtb Gl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=9701200413
  • Rose, G. (2007). Visual methodologies: An introduction to the interpretation of visual materials (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
  • Rose, G. (2012). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials (3rd ed.). London: Sage.
  • Ryba, J. (2008). Kennedy Space Center story: Origins. Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ kennedy/about/history/story/ch1.html
  • Simkins, F. B. (1957). The rising tide of faith. In L.D. Rubin, Jr., & J. J. Kilpatrick (Eds.), The lasting South: Fourteen Southerners look at their home (pp. 84-103). Chicago: Henry Regnery.
  • Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
  • Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
  • Stanonis, A. J. (Ed.). (2008). Dixie emporium: Tourism, foodways, and consumer culture in the American South. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
  • van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Semiotics and iconography. In T. van Leeuwen and C. Jewitt (Eds.), Handbook of visual analysis (pp. 92-118). London: Sage.
  • van Leeuwen, T., & Jewitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. London: Sage.
  • Wall, S. (2008). Easier said than done: Writing an autoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 7, 38-53.