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Creative Visual Methods in Research with Children and Young People

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Methodological Approaches

Part of the book series: Geographies of Children and Young People ((GCYP,volume 2))

Abstract

What changes when doing research along with children and young people? How can a sense of inquiry among young people and a dialogue between young people and researchers be facilitated? This chapter draws from methods and findings of a multisited ethnography conducted in Ontario, Canada, by Farmer. Visual language portraits and digital photography served as reflexive tools and artifacts that enabled students to make explicit their realities and understandings of migration, transnational familial connections, travels, and everyday experiences centered around home and schooling. Language portraits supported a biographical inquiry for students. Personalized body maps were constructed and shared when students were tasked the following: “I draw on my silhouette languages and cultures that connect me.” Additionally, using digital photography, students were given the following prompt: “With this camera, I take pictures of places, people and things that connect me.” From these artistic methodologies, rich narratives emerged which motivated the development of thematic visual mapping techniques to convey the diverse array of networks people form.

The focus of this chapter is enabling methods. Through approaching research differently with children and young people, this chapter discusses the use of creative visual arts-based methods and key challenges in building knowledge differently.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Justice Education, OISE of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Diane Farmer & Jeanette Cepin

Authors
  1. Diane Farmer
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  2. Jeanette Cepin
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Correspondence to Diane Farmer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, United Kingdom

    Ruth Evans

  2. Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

    Louise Holt

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Farmer, D., Cepin, J. (2017). Creative Visual Methods in Research with Children and Young People. In: Evans, R., Holt, L. (eds) Methodological Approaches. Geographies of Children and Young People, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-020-9_22

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