Wang C, Burris M A, Ping X Y
School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 1996 May;42(10):1391-400. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00287-1.
In developing countries, rural women are often neither seen nor heard, despite their extraordinary contribution to the labor force. Photo novella is an innovative methodology that puts cameras in the hands of rural women and other constituents who seldom have access to those who make decisions over their lives. As an educational tool, the practice of photo novella has three main goals: (1) to empower rural women to record and reflect their lives, especially health needs, from their own point of view; (2) to increase their collective knowledge about women's health status; and (3) to inform policymakers and the broader society about health and community issues that are of greatest concern to rural women. In this paper we analyze the third goal: the contributions and limitations of photo novella as a tool for informing policymakers. We conceptualize first the theoretical and practical underpinnings of photo novella. After tracing the relationships among empowerment education, feminist theory, documentary photography and policy, we describe photo novella within the broader context of the Ford Foundation-supported Yunnan Women's Health and Development Program and explain its application for influencing policy based on our experience carrying out photo novella in China.
在发展中国家，农村妇女尽管对劳动力做出了非凡贡献，却往往无人关注、无人倾听。图片故事是一种创新方法，它将相机交到农村妇女及其他很少有机会接触到那些掌控她们生活的决策者的群体手中。作为一种教育工具，图片故事的实践有三个主要目标：（1）使农村妇女能够从自身角度记录和反思她们的生活，尤其是健康需求；（2）增加她们关于妇女健康状况的集体知识；（3）让政策制定者和更广泛的社会了解农村妇女最关心的健康和社区问题。在本文中，我们分析第三个目标：图片故事作为一种告知政策制定者信息的工具的贡献和局限性。我们首先阐述图片故事的理论和实践基础。在追溯赋权教育、女权主义理论、纪实摄影与政策之间的关系之后，我们在福特基金会支持的云南妇女健康与发展项目这一更广泛背景下描述图片故事，并根据我们在中国开展图片故事的经验解释其在影响政策方面的应用。
