Un Proceso Muy Vagabundo: The Use of Visual Research Methods to Explore Intergenerational Political Behavior

Abstract

This article explores the use of visual research methodologies for understanding the everyday political desires and behavior of individuals. Its goal is to extend conversations in geography about the use of visual methods for interpreting the relationships between society and space, specifically the ways in which photovoice techniques can help geographers better understand the ways in which intergenerational emplaced memories motivate and shape contemporary political action. Using an urban community in Costa Rica built through hybrid housing–antiviolence movements in the 1980s and 1990s as a case study, this article illustrates the material and metaphorical pathways that participants trace between historical social movements and contemporary social issues through their photo essays. Participant images are made in tandem with practices and movement in the present but recall and represent family histories and narratives of historical struggle in the past. Significantly, as savvy users embedded in visual worlds, participants use these moments of intersection between past and present to mobilize political arguments about value and justice in their community. In this way, visual methods reveal the political mundane: how individuals shape their political opinions through conversation between contemporary embodiment and experiences with social issues and family histories of social movement participation. Key Words: photovoice, urban social movements, visual research methods.