Using visual approaches with Indigenous communities

Abstract

This chapter portrays the development of a research program involving a number of phases and funded projects over the longer term. The authors depict a lay expertise model of development where local people promote their own solutions to environmental problems. They comment on the way their methodological approach changed over the 15 years of researching with indigenous forest communities in Guyana to find solutions to their complex environmental issues. Their initial expert-led approach, using quantitative methods, became increasingly participatory as more appropriate qualitative and visual methods were employed. The chapter shows how such techniques can be used to overcome communication barriers and how they can aid the interactions between academic researchers and non-academic researchers and between local people and policymakers. The chapter also shows how research and visual techniques may be used not simply to empower local communities to take action themselves but to take ownership, offering the potential for longer term outcomes.