Phase One of the PhotoVoice and Participatory Action Research Project is currently underway. During Phase One, some of the female health promoters and advocates from these two organizations are becoming researchers and documentarians. They are participating in a series of workshops throughout the year, the first of which took place in February of 2009.
The workshops are designed to assist participants in developing skills to tell their stories through photography and interviewing. The story-building process has been designed to foster cultural exchange and deep appreciation for the diverse understandings of and experiences in New Orleans, post-Katrina. The women are also developing responses to both common and distinct health-related problems facing their communities, through their participation in the workshops and the project as a whole.
These health promoters and advocates bring a critical frame to their explanations and observations. They have an expertise in health as well as extensive knowledge of the acute needs facing their communities and the health disparities New Orleanians of color and from low-income communities face in accessing health resources. During Phase One, the health promoters and advocates seek to document how their communities and, more particularly, women and children affected by forced displacement and immigration, experienced and overcame barriers to accessing health resources. Finally, the women hope to come together through this collaborative participatory action research process to help thread a new, multi-racial, female leadership in New Orleans.
