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Work in Progress in the Social Studies (WIPSS):  2017/8

21st Year 

7 November
Empowering bodies: how and why making photographs makes children ‘do’ malaria differently

by

Dr Dalia Iskander

University College London

The University of Malta’s seminar series Work in Progress in the Social Studies (WIPSS), is convened by Paul Clough (Anthropology), Peter Mayo (Education) and Michael Briguglio (Sociology).  WIPSS now enters its twenty-first year. WIPSS seminars have always had three main aims: (1) to provide researchers in any branch of the social studies with a forum in which they can obtain feedback for their ideas or findings in an informal setting marked by lively discussion – on papers they are writing or have recently written, and on their current research; (2) to act as an interface between the University community and civil society in Malta.  (3) WIPSS convenors see their niche as encouraging inter-disciplinary dialogue between academics and students in the social studies broadly conceived – along a spectrum from film studies, to museums as sites of culture and cultural contestation, literary theory, educational and psychological theory, history, international relations, sociology and anthropology. To this end, they welcome both individually written papers, and inter-disciplinary symposia. WIPSS particularly looks for exciting new departures in social theory or research. 

Dalia Iskander writes about her forthcoming seminar:

‘In this paper, I show how and why the process of making and sharing photographs (a method called photovoice) can potentially alter how children from the indigenous Palawan ethnic group in the Philippines prevent and treat malaria. Current literature suggests that approaches such as photovoice ‘empower’ individuals to make changes in their lives by changing the way they think (i.e. by acting as a kind of representation of reality that people can look at, consciously deliberate on and then use to guide their practices). In contrast, I argue that photovoice might also be effective precisely because in the process of making and using material objects that show malaria practices, children simultaneously practically change the way their own bodies deal with malaria. I illustrate this through photographs that capture the “moments of engagement” in this project. These images reveal that the process of making and sharing photographs did not just lead children to consciously think differently about their practice but also facilitated them to unconsciously do different things with their bodies.’

Dalia Iskander is a Teaching Fellow in Medical Anthropology at University College London. Her research focuses on malaria and infectious diseases and the use of participatory visual techniques. She has a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of Durham and an M.Sc. in Medical Anthropology and B.A. in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Oxford. 

The seminar will be held on Tuesday 7 November, 18:00 - 19:00, followed by discussion, in the Faculty of Arts Library, on the third floor of Old Humanities Building, at the end of the corridor next to Room 301. (The stairs are in the corner of the Quadrangle behind the Assembly Hall. Students are encouraged to attend.)

The public is cordially invited.

Paul Clough

Peter Mayo

Michael Briguglio