Harnessing Photographic Techniques for Advocacy in Visualizing Domestic Violence Experiences in Kabale Municipality, Uganda

This arts-based, practice-led research paper explored how photographic methodology can be adopted as an arts-based advocacy strategy to challenge domestic violence (DV) in Kabale Municipality, Southwestern Uganda. As one of the widespread manifestations of gender violence, DV affects 56% of women aged 15-49, who have ever been married in the country. Yet, existing awareness raising initiatives are text-intensive, therefore inaccessible to most Ugandans who have low literacy levels, and unable to evoke the complex feelings that victims experience. Borrowing from Visual Communication Theory (Sontag, 1977), the framework of studium and punctum (Barthes, 1980), and the Photovoice methodology (Wang & Burris, 1997), the study utilized qualitative research methodologies of in-depth interviews (n=34), observation, and community-centred photographic production. The research highlighted the regularity of DV in Kabale, its normalization, the culture of silence surrounding it, and the fear, social stigma and weak institutional support placed on survivors. It also identified the photographic artwork as having the greatest potential in that 94.1% of the participants experienced strong emotional reactions to the images, 91.2% were willing to assist victims, and 82.4% were willing to show the photographs in their communities. It concludes that photographic artwork can powerfully evoke emotion and action, incur broader community discourse, promote agency of the powerless, sit with local culture, and therefore, be adopted as a culturally-sensitive, arts-based advocacy strategy against domestic violence that crosses language and literacy differences. By offering preliminary research on the arts-based advocacy strategy in the Sub-Saharan regions, the study suggests practical utilizations for policy makers, development practice, NGOs, researchers, and communities.

Photography. Domestic Violence. Visual Advocacy. Photovoice. Kabale Municipality, Uganda. Gender-Based Violence. Practice-Based Research.

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