ISSN 1472ndash586X printISSN 1472ndash5878 online02010013ndash14 copy 2002 Taylor amp Francis Ltd

DOI 10108014725860220137345

Visual Studies Vol 17 No 1 2002

Talking about pictures a case for photo elicitation

DOUGLAS HARPER

This paper is a definition of photo elicitation and ahistory of its development in anthropology and soci-ology The view of photo elicitation in thesedisciplines where the greatest number of photo elici-tation studies have taken place organizes photoelicitation studies by topic and by form The paperalso presents practical considerations from a frequentphoto elicitation researcher and concludes that photoelicitation enlarges the possibilities of conventionalempirical research In addition the paper argues thatphoto elicitation also produces a different kind ofinformation Photo elicitation evokes informationfeelings and memories that are due to the photo-graphrsquos particular form of representation

INTRODUCTIONOn the connection of photographs to memory JohnBerger wrote

The thrill found in a photograph comes fromthe onrush of memory This is obvious whenitrsquos a picture of something we once knewThat house we lived in Mother when young

But in another sense we once knew every-thing we recognize in any photo Thatrsquos grassgrowing Tiles on a roof get wet like thatdonrsquot they Here is one of the seven ways inwhich bosses smile This is a womanrsquosshoulder not a manrsquos Just the way snowmelts

Memory is a strange faculty The sharper andmore isolated the stimulus memory receivesthe more it remembers the more comprehen-sive the stimulus the less it remembers Thisis perhaps why black-and-white photographyis paradoxically more evocative than colourphotography It stimulates a faster onrush ofmemories because less has been given morehas been left outhellip (1992192ndash193)

This paper is an overview of photo elicitation ahistory and an assessment of its use and potential Imake the case for photo elicitation based on myexperience with the method and my sense that itspotential usefulness is huge and now largelyunrecognized

DEFINITIONSPhoto elicitation is based on the simple idea ofinserting a photograph into a research interview Thedifference between interviews using images and textand interviews using words alone lies in the ways werespond to these two forms of symbolic representa-tion This has a physical basis the parts of the brainthat process visual information are evolutionarilyolder than the parts that process verbal informationThus images evoke deeper elements of humanconsciousness that do words exchanges based onwords alone utilize less of the brainrsquos capacity than doexchanges in which the brain is processing images aswell as words These may be some of the reasons thephoto elicitation interview seems like not simply aninterview process that elicits more information butrather one that evokes a different kind of information

Most elicitation studies use photographs butthere is no reason studies cannot be done with paint-ings cartoons public displays such as graffiti oradvertising billboards or virtually any visual image1

But at this point nearly all elicitation research hasbeen based on photographs and that shall be the focusof my paper

The photographs used in photo elicitationresearch extend along a continuum At one extremeare what might be considered the most scientific thatis visual inventories of objects people and artifactsLike all photographs these represent the subjectivitiesembodied in framing exposure and other technicalconsiderations Photographs of this type are typical ofanthropological field studies

In the middle of the continuum are images thatdepict events that were part of collective or institu-tional pasts These might be photos of work schoolsor other institutional experiences or images depictingevents that occurred earlier in the lifetimes of thesubjects These images may connect an individual toexperiences or eras even if the images do not reflectthe research subjectrsquos actual lives

At the other extreme of our continuum photo-graphs portray the intimate dimensions of the social ndashfamily or other intimate social group or onersquos ownbody Elicitation interviews connect ldquocore definitionsof the selfrdquo to society culture and history This workcorresponds to postmodern sociologyrsquos decentered

Doug Harper is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Duquesne University USA and is the founding editor of Visual Sociology

14 D Harper

narrative of the sociology of the body and of socialstudies of emotion

Other Forms of Image Elicitation

Before looking in more depth at photo elicitationresearch I briefly note the existence of elicitationresearch done with film or video Edgar Morin aFrench sociologist and Jean Rouch a French visualanthropologist produced the film Chronique drsquoun eacuteteacute(Chronicle of a Summer)2 which measured thecultural pulse of Paris at the end of the 1950s by inter-viewing several randomly chosen Parisians on thematter of happiness and truth In the final sequencesthe amateur actors watch the rushes and reflect ontheir filmed portraits Thus the film consisted of bothsubject and analysis ndash people observed and peoplecommenting on their natural performances The filmwas the first to use this technique which was madepossible with newly developed portable sound syncmovie cameras Many documentaries in the meantimehave included reflexive or elicitive devises (seeNichols 199144ndash56)

Within visual anthropology there have been asmall number of film elicitation studies For exampleLinda Connor Patsy and Tim Asch filmed theBalinese healer Jero Tapakan in a conventional ethno-graphic film and then recorded her reaction to seeingthese films in a second separate film Film one presentsitself as a conventional anthropological film film twoshows the savvy Jero Tapakan asserting her own self-definition against that provided by the first film

These and a few additional experiments3 are mostof the film elicitations found in anthropology Thereasons may have to do with the difficulties encoun-tered in constructing films-about-films as MarcusBanks recently noted ldquohellipeven more so than stillphotography the moving image ndash film video or tele-vision broadcast ndash is a wayward medium difficult forthe researcher to controlrdquo (200199) This wayward-ness is partly filmrsquos grounding in time and the spokenword and the resulting fact that a film can containvery few words relative to an essay or book Theorganization of film based on elicitation presents thedifficult problem of having people speak about imageswhich must be presented to the film viewer yet a filmseldom works well if it is rooted in static images4

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTPhoto elicitation was first named in a paper publishedby the photographer and researcher John Collier(1957) who was in the mid-1950s a member ofCornell Universityrsquos multi-disciplinary research teamexamining mental health in changing communities inthe Maritime Provinces in Canada Collier proposedphoto interviewing as the solution to a practical

problem research teams were having difficultyagreeing on categories of the quality of housing in theresearch area Collierrsquos photographic survey made itpossible for researchers to agree on their previouslytaken-for-granted categories

The technique was put to use in research when theCornell team used photo elicitation to examine howfamilies adapted to residence among ethnicallydifferent people and to new forms of work in urbanfactories The overriding question was the environ-mental basis of psychological stress The researchershad found these themes difficult to explore in surveysor in-depth interviews and decided to try a new inter-view technique using photographic images of old andnew worlds inhabited by the subjects What wasparticularly useful about this was that the researchersdid photo elicitation interviews as well as non-photo-graphic interviews with the same families to see howeach method worked The researchers felt that thephotos sharpened the informantsrsquo memory andreduced the areas of misunderstanding Collierconcluded

The characteristics of the two methods ofinterviewing can be simply stated The mate-rial obtained with photographs was preciseand at times even encyclopedic the controlinterviews were less structured rambling andfreer in association Statements in the photo-interviews were in direct response to thegraphic probes and different in character asthe content of the pictures differed whereasthe character of the control interviews seemedto be governed by the mood of the inform-ants (1957856)

Further Collier noted ldquoThe pictures elicited longerand more comprehensive interviews but at the sametime helped subjects overcome the fatigue and repeti-tion of conventional interviewsrdquo (1957858) Colliernoted that photo interviewing involved ldquohellipa moresubtle function of graphic imagery This was itscompelling effect upon the informant its ability toprod latent memory to stimulate and releaseemotional statements about the informantrsquos lifehelliprdquo(1957858)

The report of this experiment was published in1957 in the American Anthropologist Collierrsquos texton visual anthropology which described this andfurther experiments with photo interviewing waspublished ten years later (Collier 1967) and becamethe standard introduction to visual anthropology andsociology published in expanded form two decadeslater (Collier and Collier 1986) In later years Colliercontinued to make the case for photo elicitation forexample in his contribution to the inaugural issue ofthe journal Visual Anthropology (Collier 1987)

Talking about pictures 15

Announced with such fanfare one would expectthe method to have attracted an energetic following inanthropology but only a small number of publishedstudies have relied on photo elicitation It may bephoto elicitation takes place informally in routinefield work and that its impact is not formally realizedFor example in the course of research on a ruralcommunity in Italy Paolo Chiozzi recalls talking to asubject whose house had been bombed during WorldWar II He showed his informant a catalogue of aphoto book documenting the town during the earlypart of the century ldquoSuddenly I was overwhelmedwith information which until that moment had beengiven fragmentarily or with some reluctance notbecause of any distrust but from a lack of realinvolvement of the informantrdquo (198945) These inter-views were folded into an ethnography but notpresented as a photo elicitation study

Fadwa el Guindi tells a similar story about fieldwork in Latin America

Following a regular in-depth interview hellip Ishowed [the informant] hellip slides I had takenof ritual events and recorded his commentsand reactions to them I had no fixed notionas to what to expect nor what specific ques-tions to ask him hellip In one instance hellip theinformant pointed to two stones placed on theshrine and volunteered valuable informationabout the[ir] ldquosacrednessrdquo hellip (which as I hadobserved frequently were regularly used bythe village caretakers to pound dirt on thegrave after burial) The other instanceconcerned a slide of the church altar deco-rated elaborately for the Christmasceremonies In an enthusiastic burst Martinpointed to the altar saying ldquoHa there is thelittle house already raisedrdquo This comment ledto an extended discussion revealing rich dataon various aspects of Christmas and Easter-related rituals and myths (1998477)

Thus it may be the case that anthropologists often usephotographs in interviews but that few of these arewritten up as photo elicitation studies Anthropolog-ical studies that rely primarily on photo elicitationhowever are few and far between For example inthe entire publication run of Studies in the Anthro-pology of Visual Communication (1974ndash1979renamed Studies in Visual Communication1980ndash1985) there appeared only three articles relyingprimarily on photo elicitation Ximena Bunster Brsquos(1978) study of the culture of proletarian mothers inPeru (expanded to a book in 1989) Paul Messaris andLarry Grossrsquo (1977) analysis of how different agegroups interpreted a fictional photo story about amedical doctorrsquos indifference to an automobile acci-dent and Victor Calderolarsquos (1985) study of duck egg

harvesting in Indonesia In Hockingsrsquo encyclopedicPrinciples of Visual Anthropology (1975) photointerviewing is only mentioned in passing in a smallnumber of studies and does not warrant a separatediscussion Examining the journal Visual Anthro-pology (1986 to the present) and the VisualAnthropology Review (approximately the same run)finds almost no photo elicitation-based researchexcept for a study by Keith Kenney of self-portraitureand identity (1993)

Photo elicitation has played a greater role inrecent developments in visual sociology In theseminal visual sociology text Jon Wagner (1978) listsldquophotographs as interview stimulirdquo as one of fourvisual research strategies His own contribution tothat volume was a photo elicitation study ofldquoperceiving a planned communityrdquo (197883ndash100) Inpapers offering definitions and research strategies forvisual sociology (Harper 1987a 1988 2000) photoelicitation was defined as one of four waysresearchers might use photographs in standardresearch techniques In other papers (Harper 19931998) I suggested that photo elicitation be regarded asa postmodern dialogue based on the authority of thesubject rather than the researcher Even Emmison andSmith openly hostile to photography in a recent bookon visual methods include photo elicitation exercisesdesigned for students (200136ndash38)

The greatest concentration of photo elicitationstudies have been published in the journal VisualSociology Photo elicitation demonstrated thepolysemic quality of the image it thrust images intothe center of a research agenda it demonstrated theusefulness of images ranging from fine-arts qualitydocumentary to family snapshots Due to itsdecentering of the authority of the author photo elici-tation addresses some of the postmodernism ofethnography itself For these reasons it seems to be aparticularly sociological version of visual research

Photo elicitation has also crept into the disciplinesof psychology (Sustik 1999) education (Dempsey etal 1994 Smith et al 1999) and organizational studies(Buchanan 1998) but to this point is treated as a waifon the margins rather than as a robust actor in a devel-oping research traditions

MAPPING THE TERRAINIn the following I refer to the Appendix which listsphoto elicitation studies organized chronologicallyand by topic I have attempted to locate all examplesof photo elicitation but I may have inadvertentlyomitted important examples Some will undoubtedlydisagree with my typology Still it will provide astarting point which should help researchers locatetheir own research projects either planned or inprogress I have excluded documentary studies that

16 D Harper

is those done apart from sociological or otheracademic theoretical and methodological considera-tions from this consideration

Photo elicitation studies have been concentratedin four areas social organizationsocial class commu-nity identity and culture (in the case of culture wemake the strange bedfellows of cultural studies andstudies of culture) If we present this information in aslightly different form (Table 1) we see how studiesdone in different depths have taken place in differentsubject areas This table excludes those entries thatfall outside the four topics listed

The following discussion highlights how photoelicitation has operated in some of these subject areasand forms of inquiry The discussion does not coverall cells of the table

Social ClassSocial OrganizationFamily

These studies include empirical study of familyphotographs (Guschker 2000) books that documentpopular education movements (Barndt 1980 1990)reports of larger projects in which photo elicitationstudies played a part and studies in which researcherscompleted projects on the impact of children onfamily dynamics (Steiger 1995) and the social organ-ization of an Indonesian village (Calderola 1985)Many of the photographs used in these studies cata-logue social life other photographs are produced bythe people being researched

Steigerrsquos study demonstrates how technicalaspects of photographs contribute to the communica-tion of sociological ideas Steiger uses techniquessuch as double flash varying shutter speeds and thechildrsquos perspective (Figure 1) to suggest the phenom-enological frame of the child Her subjects come fromseveral social classes in Switzerland which allows

the viewer to easily compare the material circum-stances of families with first children and themeanings of these family changes

Steiger has in the meantime rephotographedcouples as they age move and add children to theirfamilies The elicitation interviews now include thethemes of family change and development and thephotographs comprise a kind of family album

Community and Historical Ethnography

Sucharrsquos studies of gentrification (1988 1992 Sucharand Rotenberg 1994) use photographs to show howurban residents transform urban neighborhoods basedon strategies which derive from their own social loca-tions and identities Sucharrsquos photographs recordrefurbishing redecorating and ways of occupyingspace Suchar approaches his project as a documen-tary photographer and his photographic skill andsociological acuity lead to visual essays that couldgrace museum walls as well as sociological articlesThe portfolios of fine-arts quality images presented toresearch subjects encourage serious engagement(Figure 2)

Sucharrsquos environmentally contexted portraitsportray new residents who represent the gentrifica-tion process and long-term residents whose worldsare threatened by gentrification Subjects are posed intheir apartments and houses surrounded by theobjects through which they define their spaces Thework recalls the portraits and environmental studiesof suburbia completed by Bill Owens in 1972Owens a photojournalist who was then a student ofJohn Collier included brief statements from thepeople he photographed a rudimentary form of photoelicitation Sucharrsquos work more fully develops thismethod by including lengthy and analytically driven

Table 1 Photo elicitation forms and topics

Dissertations Books Articles reflections on larger studies

Articles research fullydescribed

Social classsocial organizationfamily

2 (Guschker 2000 Sustik 1999)

3 (Barndt 1980 1990 Bunster B 1989)

2 (Collier 1957 Guindi 1998)

2 (Calderola 1985 Steiger 1995)

Communityhistorical ethnography

1 (Sampson-Cordle 2001)

2 (Harper 2001 Schwartz 1992)

2 (Chiozzi 1989 Rusted 1995)

6 (Orellana 1999 Suchar 1988 1992 Suchar and Rotenberg 1994 van der Does et al 1992 Wagner 1978)

Identitybiographyautobiography

3 (Harper 1987b 1994 Spence 1986)

7 (Blinn and Harrist 1991 Clark 1999 Gold 1991 Hethorn and Kaiser 1999 Jansen 1991 Kenney 1993 Smith 1999)

Culturecultural studies 1 (Faccioli and Zuccheri 1998)

8 (Craig et al 1997 Curry and Strauss 1986 Harper 2000 Kretsedemas 1993 Messaris and Gross 1977 Snyder 1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993 Stiebling 1999)

Talking about pictures 17

interviews Both Owens and Suchar used mediumformat photography and produced images consistentwith that photographic technology

It is not however necessary to base elicitationresearch on professional documentary or art photo-graphs Sampson-Cordlersquos recent dissertation (2001)studies the relationship between a rural school and itscommunity by having study subjects (teacherscommunity members and students) photograph theirworlds with inexpensive automatic cameras Hermethods include what she calls ldquophotofeedbackrdquo(where photographers analyze their photographs withwritten comments what might be called photo-self-elicitation) ldquophotointerviewingrdquo (a more conven-tional form of photo elicitation) and ldquophotoessaysrdquowhere subjects integrate several elements of analyt-ical thinking images and reflection

She first performed several pilot studies workingas a photographer to uncover ldquothe biases that mightcome out of years of being a rural educatorrdquo In thesepilot studies she photographed the social world underconsideration and assembled the text and images to

make a photo essay In the analysis sections of thepilot studies she considered her changing role in thecommunity as a researcher and politically committedindividual

These essays were integrated into the lengthy andmany-dimensioned community study Sampson-Cordle shows how people who are not skilled photog-raphers working with extremely modest equipmentcan be taught to record their social worlds and toprocess those visual statements in self-interviewingand conventional elicitation methods (Figure 3)

Historical ethnography can be considered thememory of community For photo elicitation to createhistorical ethnography photographs must representthe earlier experience of people interviewed In prac-tical terms this means that the photos cannot be morethan sixty or perhaps seventy years old

One book-length historical ethnography relies onphoto elicitation (Harper 2001) Here the photos showthe collective organization of agricultural laborfarming technology sixty years in the past and portraitsthat evoke an era in which rural identities were etched

Figure 1 This photograph shows a mother who integrates her child into her work-world Subject ldquoThis picture was taken before Caspar could walk It was easier to bring him along to work then Now he can

walk and reach much more to tear things uprdquoldquoWhen I take him to work I always hope that the telephone wonrsquot ring When I work together with somebody else I often

take him along so that I donrsquot have to answer the telephone Or I take him during vacation time in July and August because there are fewer consultations Today I had a consultation that was not too difficult and during that half hour

Caspar was totally quiet I was glad about that Otherwise I would have explained that I am here alone with Caspar and that when everybody else is on vacation I have to work much morerdquo [continues]

18 D Harper

in the facial expressions the gestures the clothes andthe interactional mannerisms of the people photo-graphed The farmers in the historical photographswere different than the subjects who were interviewedbut their farming was the same as experienced by theresearch subjects The historical photographs became akind of memory bookend a starting point from whichto evaluate changes in farming which had occurred inthe meantime In this instance the historical photo-graphs operated simultaneously on the empiricaldimension (the farmersrsquo saw in the photographs detailsof work they had not specifically imagined fordecades) and subjective dimension as the researchsubjects saw themselves implicitly in images fromearlier decades of their lives

Identity

Researchers using photo elicitation have examinedthe social identity of kids drug addicts ethnicallydifferent immigrants work worlds and visual autobi-

ography As in the case of community photographicstudies of identity rely heavily on what is seen raisingthe question of what parts of identity are not visibleJo Spencersquos (1986) autobiography employs her bodyas a text to confront the social definitions of physicalattractiveness and the experience of her own debili-tating illness One other study (Harper 1987b) is abook-length portrait of a single individual hereWillie a rural artisan reflects on photographs of hisfixing building deconstructing and in creating andrecreating himself through his work

Several studies of identity focus on ways peoplemark themselves through clothes or how they aremarked by illness or ethnic differences The impor-tance of clothes for adolescents made it a naturalstudy using photo elicitation (Hethorn and Kaiser1999) In the matter of ethnicity the invisibility ofethnic difference to outsiders make a photo elicitationa natural method as demonstrated in Goldrsquos researchon Asian immigrantsrsquo definition of Asian ethnicity(1991)

Figure 2 Suchar ldquohellipcould you tell me a little about the things in the photograph hellip are there significant things thererdquoSubject ldquoThe big thing is David and Daniel hellip and Max the cat hellip our other cat Missy would be jealous hellip I should have

dusted the traysrdquoSuchar ldquoWhat about the trays and ice cream collection Thatrsquos obviously a major part of the houserdquo

Subject ldquoTheyrsquore a major part of this room but we try to keep it somewhat balanced We have it balanced so that the collection doesnrsquot take over the house hellip Wersquove been to some peoplersquos houses where the collections take over the house where theyrsquore everywhere and become oppressive hellip Irsquove been to a friendrsquos house in Atlanta where you canrsquot sit down

yoursquove got to move things to sit down hellip When you live with it [the collection] you donrsquot think about itrdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

14 D Harper

narrative of the sociology of the body and of socialstudies of emotion

Other Forms of Image Elicitation

Before looking in more depth at photo elicitationresearch I briefly note the existence of elicitationresearch done with film or video Edgar Morin aFrench sociologist and Jean Rouch a French visualanthropologist produced the film Chronique drsquoun eacuteteacute(Chronicle of a Summer)2 which measured thecultural pulse of Paris at the end of the 1950s by inter-viewing several randomly chosen Parisians on thematter of happiness and truth In the final sequencesthe amateur actors watch the rushes and reflect ontheir filmed portraits Thus the film consisted of bothsubject and analysis ndash people observed and peoplecommenting on their natural performances The filmwas the first to use this technique which was madepossible with newly developed portable sound syncmovie cameras Many documentaries in the meantimehave included reflexive or elicitive devises (seeNichols 199144ndash56)

Within visual anthropology there have been asmall number of film elicitation studies For exampleLinda Connor Patsy and Tim Asch filmed theBalinese healer Jero Tapakan in a conventional ethno-graphic film and then recorded her reaction to seeingthese films in a second separate film Film one presentsitself as a conventional anthropological film film twoshows the savvy Jero Tapakan asserting her own self-definition against that provided by the first film

These and a few additional experiments3 are mostof the film elicitations found in anthropology Thereasons may have to do with the difficulties encoun-tered in constructing films-about-films as MarcusBanks recently noted ldquohellipeven more so than stillphotography the moving image ndash film video or tele-vision broadcast ndash is a wayward medium difficult forthe researcher to controlrdquo (200199) This wayward-ness is partly filmrsquos grounding in time and the spokenword and the resulting fact that a film can containvery few words relative to an essay or book Theorganization of film based on elicitation presents thedifficult problem of having people speak about imageswhich must be presented to the film viewer yet a filmseldom works well if it is rooted in static images4

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTPhoto elicitation was first named in a paper publishedby the photographer and researcher John Collier(1957) who was in the mid-1950s a member ofCornell Universityrsquos multi-disciplinary research teamexamining mental health in changing communities inthe Maritime Provinces in Canada Collier proposedphoto interviewing as the solution to a practical

problem research teams were having difficultyagreeing on categories of the quality of housing in theresearch area Collierrsquos photographic survey made itpossible for researchers to agree on their previouslytaken-for-granted categories

The technique was put to use in research when theCornell team used photo elicitation to examine howfamilies adapted to residence among ethnicallydifferent people and to new forms of work in urbanfactories The overriding question was the environ-mental basis of psychological stress The researchershad found these themes difficult to explore in surveysor in-depth interviews and decided to try a new inter-view technique using photographic images of old andnew worlds inhabited by the subjects What wasparticularly useful about this was that the researchersdid photo elicitation interviews as well as non-photo-graphic interviews with the same families to see howeach method worked The researchers felt that thephotos sharpened the informantsrsquo memory andreduced the areas of misunderstanding Collierconcluded

The characteristics of the two methods ofinterviewing can be simply stated The mate-rial obtained with photographs was preciseand at times even encyclopedic the controlinterviews were less structured rambling andfreer in association Statements in the photo-interviews were in direct response to thegraphic probes and different in character asthe content of the pictures differed whereasthe character of the control interviews seemedto be governed by the mood of the inform-ants (1957856)

Further Collier noted ldquoThe pictures elicited longerand more comprehensive interviews but at the sametime helped subjects overcome the fatigue and repeti-tion of conventional interviewsrdquo (1957858) Colliernoted that photo interviewing involved ldquohellipa moresubtle function of graphic imagery This was itscompelling effect upon the informant its ability toprod latent memory to stimulate and releaseemotional statements about the informantrsquos lifehelliprdquo(1957858)

The report of this experiment was published in1957 in the American Anthropologist Collierrsquos texton visual anthropology which described this andfurther experiments with photo interviewing waspublished ten years later (Collier 1967) and becamethe standard introduction to visual anthropology andsociology published in expanded form two decadeslater (Collier and Collier 1986) In later years Colliercontinued to make the case for photo elicitation forexample in his contribution to the inaugural issue ofthe journal Visual Anthropology (Collier 1987)

Talking about pictures 15

Announced with such fanfare one would expectthe method to have attracted an energetic following inanthropology but only a small number of publishedstudies have relied on photo elicitation It may bephoto elicitation takes place informally in routinefield work and that its impact is not formally realizedFor example in the course of research on a ruralcommunity in Italy Paolo Chiozzi recalls talking to asubject whose house had been bombed during WorldWar II He showed his informant a catalogue of aphoto book documenting the town during the earlypart of the century ldquoSuddenly I was overwhelmedwith information which until that moment had beengiven fragmentarily or with some reluctance notbecause of any distrust but from a lack of realinvolvement of the informantrdquo (198945) These inter-views were folded into an ethnography but notpresented as a photo elicitation study

Fadwa el Guindi tells a similar story about fieldwork in Latin America

Following a regular in-depth interview hellip Ishowed [the informant] hellip slides I had takenof ritual events and recorded his commentsand reactions to them I had no fixed notionas to what to expect nor what specific ques-tions to ask him hellip In one instance hellip theinformant pointed to two stones placed on theshrine and volunteered valuable informationabout the[ir] ldquosacrednessrdquo hellip (which as I hadobserved frequently were regularly used bythe village caretakers to pound dirt on thegrave after burial) The other instanceconcerned a slide of the church altar deco-rated elaborately for the Christmasceremonies In an enthusiastic burst Martinpointed to the altar saying ldquoHa there is thelittle house already raisedrdquo This comment ledto an extended discussion revealing rich dataon various aspects of Christmas and Easter-related rituals and myths (1998477)

Thus it may be the case that anthropologists often usephotographs in interviews but that few of these arewritten up as photo elicitation studies Anthropolog-ical studies that rely primarily on photo elicitationhowever are few and far between For example inthe entire publication run of Studies in the Anthro-pology of Visual Communication (1974ndash1979renamed Studies in Visual Communication1980ndash1985) there appeared only three articles relyingprimarily on photo elicitation Ximena Bunster Brsquos(1978) study of the culture of proletarian mothers inPeru (expanded to a book in 1989) Paul Messaris andLarry Grossrsquo (1977) analysis of how different agegroups interpreted a fictional photo story about amedical doctorrsquos indifference to an automobile acci-dent and Victor Calderolarsquos (1985) study of duck egg

harvesting in Indonesia In Hockingsrsquo encyclopedicPrinciples of Visual Anthropology (1975) photointerviewing is only mentioned in passing in a smallnumber of studies and does not warrant a separatediscussion Examining the journal Visual Anthro-pology (1986 to the present) and the VisualAnthropology Review (approximately the same run)finds almost no photo elicitation-based researchexcept for a study by Keith Kenney of self-portraitureand identity (1993)

Photo elicitation has played a greater role inrecent developments in visual sociology In theseminal visual sociology text Jon Wagner (1978) listsldquophotographs as interview stimulirdquo as one of fourvisual research strategies His own contribution tothat volume was a photo elicitation study ofldquoperceiving a planned communityrdquo (197883ndash100) Inpapers offering definitions and research strategies forvisual sociology (Harper 1987a 1988 2000) photoelicitation was defined as one of four waysresearchers might use photographs in standardresearch techniques In other papers (Harper 19931998) I suggested that photo elicitation be regarded asa postmodern dialogue based on the authority of thesubject rather than the researcher Even Emmison andSmith openly hostile to photography in a recent bookon visual methods include photo elicitation exercisesdesigned for students (200136ndash38)

The greatest concentration of photo elicitationstudies have been published in the journal VisualSociology Photo elicitation demonstrated thepolysemic quality of the image it thrust images intothe center of a research agenda it demonstrated theusefulness of images ranging from fine-arts qualitydocumentary to family snapshots Due to itsdecentering of the authority of the author photo elici-tation addresses some of the postmodernism ofethnography itself For these reasons it seems to be aparticularly sociological version of visual research

Photo elicitation has also crept into the disciplinesof psychology (Sustik 1999) education (Dempsey etal 1994 Smith et al 1999) and organizational studies(Buchanan 1998) but to this point is treated as a waifon the margins rather than as a robust actor in a devel-oping research traditions

MAPPING THE TERRAINIn the following I refer to the Appendix which listsphoto elicitation studies organized chronologicallyand by topic I have attempted to locate all examplesof photo elicitation but I may have inadvertentlyomitted important examples Some will undoubtedlydisagree with my typology Still it will provide astarting point which should help researchers locatetheir own research projects either planned or inprogress I have excluded documentary studies that

16 D Harper

is those done apart from sociological or otheracademic theoretical and methodological considera-tions from this consideration

Photo elicitation studies have been concentratedin four areas social organizationsocial class commu-nity identity and culture (in the case of culture wemake the strange bedfellows of cultural studies andstudies of culture) If we present this information in aslightly different form (Table 1) we see how studiesdone in different depths have taken place in differentsubject areas This table excludes those entries thatfall outside the four topics listed

The following discussion highlights how photoelicitation has operated in some of these subject areasand forms of inquiry The discussion does not coverall cells of the table

Social ClassSocial OrganizationFamily

These studies include empirical study of familyphotographs (Guschker 2000) books that documentpopular education movements (Barndt 1980 1990)reports of larger projects in which photo elicitationstudies played a part and studies in which researcherscompleted projects on the impact of children onfamily dynamics (Steiger 1995) and the social organ-ization of an Indonesian village (Calderola 1985)Many of the photographs used in these studies cata-logue social life other photographs are produced bythe people being researched

Steigerrsquos study demonstrates how technicalaspects of photographs contribute to the communica-tion of sociological ideas Steiger uses techniquessuch as double flash varying shutter speeds and thechildrsquos perspective (Figure 1) to suggest the phenom-enological frame of the child Her subjects come fromseveral social classes in Switzerland which allows

the viewer to easily compare the material circum-stances of families with first children and themeanings of these family changes

Steiger has in the meantime rephotographedcouples as they age move and add children to theirfamilies The elicitation interviews now include thethemes of family change and development and thephotographs comprise a kind of family album

Community and Historical Ethnography

Sucharrsquos studies of gentrification (1988 1992 Sucharand Rotenberg 1994) use photographs to show howurban residents transform urban neighborhoods basedon strategies which derive from their own social loca-tions and identities Sucharrsquos photographs recordrefurbishing redecorating and ways of occupyingspace Suchar approaches his project as a documen-tary photographer and his photographic skill andsociological acuity lead to visual essays that couldgrace museum walls as well as sociological articlesThe portfolios of fine-arts quality images presented toresearch subjects encourage serious engagement(Figure 2)

Sucharrsquos environmentally contexted portraitsportray new residents who represent the gentrifica-tion process and long-term residents whose worldsare threatened by gentrification Subjects are posed intheir apartments and houses surrounded by theobjects through which they define their spaces Thework recalls the portraits and environmental studiesof suburbia completed by Bill Owens in 1972Owens a photojournalist who was then a student ofJohn Collier included brief statements from thepeople he photographed a rudimentary form of photoelicitation Sucharrsquos work more fully develops thismethod by including lengthy and analytically driven

Table 1 Photo elicitation forms and topics

Dissertations Books Articles reflections on larger studies

Articles research fullydescribed

Social classsocial organizationfamily

2 (Guschker 2000 Sustik 1999)

3 (Barndt 1980 1990 Bunster B 1989)

2 (Collier 1957 Guindi 1998)

2 (Calderola 1985 Steiger 1995)

Communityhistorical ethnography

1 (Sampson-Cordle 2001)

2 (Harper 2001 Schwartz 1992)

2 (Chiozzi 1989 Rusted 1995)

6 (Orellana 1999 Suchar 1988 1992 Suchar and Rotenberg 1994 van der Does et al 1992 Wagner 1978)

Identitybiographyautobiography

3 (Harper 1987b 1994 Spence 1986)

7 (Blinn and Harrist 1991 Clark 1999 Gold 1991 Hethorn and Kaiser 1999 Jansen 1991 Kenney 1993 Smith 1999)

Culturecultural studies 1 (Faccioli and Zuccheri 1998)

8 (Craig et al 1997 Curry and Strauss 1986 Harper 2000 Kretsedemas 1993 Messaris and Gross 1977 Snyder 1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993 Stiebling 1999)

Talking about pictures 17

interviews Both Owens and Suchar used mediumformat photography and produced images consistentwith that photographic technology

It is not however necessary to base elicitationresearch on professional documentary or art photo-graphs Sampson-Cordlersquos recent dissertation (2001)studies the relationship between a rural school and itscommunity by having study subjects (teacherscommunity members and students) photograph theirworlds with inexpensive automatic cameras Hermethods include what she calls ldquophotofeedbackrdquo(where photographers analyze their photographs withwritten comments what might be called photo-self-elicitation) ldquophotointerviewingrdquo (a more conven-tional form of photo elicitation) and ldquophotoessaysrdquowhere subjects integrate several elements of analyt-ical thinking images and reflection

She first performed several pilot studies workingas a photographer to uncover ldquothe biases that mightcome out of years of being a rural educatorrdquo In thesepilot studies she photographed the social world underconsideration and assembled the text and images to

make a photo essay In the analysis sections of thepilot studies she considered her changing role in thecommunity as a researcher and politically committedindividual

These essays were integrated into the lengthy andmany-dimensioned community study Sampson-Cordle shows how people who are not skilled photog-raphers working with extremely modest equipmentcan be taught to record their social worlds and toprocess those visual statements in self-interviewingand conventional elicitation methods (Figure 3)

Historical ethnography can be considered thememory of community For photo elicitation to createhistorical ethnography photographs must representthe earlier experience of people interviewed In prac-tical terms this means that the photos cannot be morethan sixty or perhaps seventy years old

One book-length historical ethnography relies onphoto elicitation (Harper 2001) Here the photos showthe collective organization of agricultural laborfarming technology sixty years in the past and portraitsthat evoke an era in which rural identities were etched

Figure 1 This photograph shows a mother who integrates her child into her work-world Subject ldquoThis picture was taken before Caspar could walk It was easier to bring him along to work then Now he can

walk and reach much more to tear things uprdquoldquoWhen I take him to work I always hope that the telephone wonrsquot ring When I work together with somebody else I often

take him along so that I donrsquot have to answer the telephone Or I take him during vacation time in July and August because there are fewer consultations Today I had a consultation that was not too difficult and during that half hour

Caspar was totally quiet I was glad about that Otherwise I would have explained that I am here alone with Caspar and that when everybody else is on vacation I have to work much morerdquo [continues]

18 D Harper

in the facial expressions the gestures the clothes andthe interactional mannerisms of the people photo-graphed The farmers in the historical photographswere different than the subjects who were interviewedbut their farming was the same as experienced by theresearch subjects The historical photographs became akind of memory bookend a starting point from whichto evaluate changes in farming which had occurred inthe meantime In this instance the historical photo-graphs operated simultaneously on the empiricaldimension (the farmersrsquo saw in the photographs detailsof work they had not specifically imagined fordecades) and subjective dimension as the researchsubjects saw themselves implicitly in images fromearlier decades of their lives

Identity

Researchers using photo elicitation have examinedthe social identity of kids drug addicts ethnicallydifferent immigrants work worlds and visual autobi-

ography As in the case of community photographicstudies of identity rely heavily on what is seen raisingthe question of what parts of identity are not visibleJo Spencersquos (1986) autobiography employs her bodyas a text to confront the social definitions of physicalattractiveness and the experience of her own debili-tating illness One other study (Harper 1987b) is abook-length portrait of a single individual hereWillie a rural artisan reflects on photographs of hisfixing building deconstructing and in creating andrecreating himself through his work

Several studies of identity focus on ways peoplemark themselves through clothes or how they aremarked by illness or ethnic differences The impor-tance of clothes for adolescents made it a naturalstudy using photo elicitation (Hethorn and Kaiser1999) In the matter of ethnicity the invisibility ofethnic difference to outsiders make a photo elicitationa natural method as demonstrated in Goldrsquos researchon Asian immigrantsrsquo definition of Asian ethnicity(1991)

Figure 2 Suchar ldquohellipcould you tell me a little about the things in the photograph hellip are there significant things thererdquoSubject ldquoThe big thing is David and Daniel hellip and Max the cat hellip our other cat Missy would be jealous hellip I should have

dusted the traysrdquoSuchar ldquoWhat about the trays and ice cream collection Thatrsquos obviously a major part of the houserdquo

Subject ldquoTheyrsquore a major part of this room but we try to keep it somewhat balanced We have it balanced so that the collection doesnrsquot take over the house hellip Wersquove been to some peoplersquos houses where the collections take over the house where theyrsquore everywhere and become oppressive hellip Irsquove been to a friendrsquos house in Atlanta where you canrsquot sit down

yoursquove got to move things to sit down hellip When you live with it [the collection] you donrsquot think about itrdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

Talking about pictures 15

Announced with such fanfare one would expectthe method to have attracted an energetic following inanthropology but only a small number of publishedstudies have relied on photo elicitation It may bephoto elicitation takes place informally in routinefield work and that its impact is not formally realizedFor example in the course of research on a ruralcommunity in Italy Paolo Chiozzi recalls talking to asubject whose house had been bombed during WorldWar II He showed his informant a catalogue of aphoto book documenting the town during the earlypart of the century ldquoSuddenly I was overwhelmedwith information which until that moment had beengiven fragmentarily or with some reluctance notbecause of any distrust but from a lack of realinvolvement of the informantrdquo (198945) These inter-views were folded into an ethnography but notpresented as a photo elicitation study

Fadwa el Guindi tells a similar story about fieldwork in Latin America

Following a regular in-depth interview hellip Ishowed [the informant] hellip slides I had takenof ritual events and recorded his commentsand reactions to them I had no fixed notionas to what to expect nor what specific ques-tions to ask him hellip In one instance hellip theinformant pointed to two stones placed on theshrine and volunteered valuable informationabout the[ir] ldquosacrednessrdquo hellip (which as I hadobserved frequently were regularly used bythe village caretakers to pound dirt on thegrave after burial) The other instanceconcerned a slide of the church altar deco-rated elaborately for the Christmasceremonies In an enthusiastic burst Martinpointed to the altar saying ldquoHa there is thelittle house already raisedrdquo This comment ledto an extended discussion revealing rich dataon various aspects of Christmas and Easter-related rituals and myths (1998477)

Thus it may be the case that anthropologists often usephotographs in interviews but that few of these arewritten up as photo elicitation studies Anthropolog-ical studies that rely primarily on photo elicitationhowever are few and far between For example inthe entire publication run of Studies in the Anthro-pology of Visual Communication (1974ndash1979renamed Studies in Visual Communication1980ndash1985) there appeared only three articles relyingprimarily on photo elicitation Ximena Bunster Brsquos(1978) study of the culture of proletarian mothers inPeru (expanded to a book in 1989) Paul Messaris andLarry Grossrsquo (1977) analysis of how different agegroups interpreted a fictional photo story about amedical doctorrsquos indifference to an automobile acci-dent and Victor Calderolarsquos (1985) study of duck egg

harvesting in Indonesia In Hockingsrsquo encyclopedicPrinciples of Visual Anthropology (1975) photointerviewing is only mentioned in passing in a smallnumber of studies and does not warrant a separatediscussion Examining the journal Visual Anthro-pology (1986 to the present) and the VisualAnthropology Review (approximately the same run)finds almost no photo elicitation-based researchexcept for a study by Keith Kenney of self-portraitureand identity (1993)

Photo elicitation has played a greater role inrecent developments in visual sociology In theseminal visual sociology text Jon Wagner (1978) listsldquophotographs as interview stimulirdquo as one of fourvisual research strategies His own contribution tothat volume was a photo elicitation study ofldquoperceiving a planned communityrdquo (197883ndash100) Inpapers offering definitions and research strategies forvisual sociology (Harper 1987a 1988 2000) photoelicitation was defined as one of four waysresearchers might use photographs in standardresearch techniques In other papers (Harper 19931998) I suggested that photo elicitation be regarded asa postmodern dialogue based on the authority of thesubject rather than the researcher Even Emmison andSmith openly hostile to photography in a recent bookon visual methods include photo elicitation exercisesdesigned for students (200136ndash38)

The greatest concentration of photo elicitationstudies have been published in the journal VisualSociology Photo elicitation demonstrated thepolysemic quality of the image it thrust images intothe center of a research agenda it demonstrated theusefulness of images ranging from fine-arts qualitydocumentary to family snapshots Due to itsdecentering of the authority of the author photo elici-tation addresses some of the postmodernism ofethnography itself For these reasons it seems to be aparticularly sociological version of visual research

Photo elicitation has also crept into the disciplinesof psychology (Sustik 1999) education (Dempsey etal 1994 Smith et al 1999) and organizational studies(Buchanan 1998) but to this point is treated as a waifon the margins rather than as a robust actor in a devel-oping research traditions

MAPPING THE TERRAINIn the following I refer to the Appendix which listsphoto elicitation studies organized chronologicallyand by topic I have attempted to locate all examplesof photo elicitation but I may have inadvertentlyomitted important examples Some will undoubtedlydisagree with my typology Still it will provide astarting point which should help researchers locatetheir own research projects either planned or inprogress I have excluded documentary studies that

16 D Harper

is those done apart from sociological or otheracademic theoretical and methodological considera-tions from this consideration

Photo elicitation studies have been concentratedin four areas social organizationsocial class commu-nity identity and culture (in the case of culture wemake the strange bedfellows of cultural studies andstudies of culture) If we present this information in aslightly different form (Table 1) we see how studiesdone in different depths have taken place in differentsubject areas This table excludes those entries thatfall outside the four topics listed

The following discussion highlights how photoelicitation has operated in some of these subject areasand forms of inquiry The discussion does not coverall cells of the table

Social ClassSocial OrganizationFamily

These studies include empirical study of familyphotographs (Guschker 2000) books that documentpopular education movements (Barndt 1980 1990)reports of larger projects in which photo elicitationstudies played a part and studies in which researcherscompleted projects on the impact of children onfamily dynamics (Steiger 1995) and the social organ-ization of an Indonesian village (Calderola 1985)Many of the photographs used in these studies cata-logue social life other photographs are produced bythe people being researched

Steigerrsquos study demonstrates how technicalaspects of photographs contribute to the communica-tion of sociological ideas Steiger uses techniquessuch as double flash varying shutter speeds and thechildrsquos perspective (Figure 1) to suggest the phenom-enological frame of the child Her subjects come fromseveral social classes in Switzerland which allows

the viewer to easily compare the material circum-stances of families with first children and themeanings of these family changes

Steiger has in the meantime rephotographedcouples as they age move and add children to theirfamilies The elicitation interviews now include thethemes of family change and development and thephotographs comprise a kind of family album

Community and Historical Ethnography

Sucharrsquos studies of gentrification (1988 1992 Sucharand Rotenberg 1994) use photographs to show howurban residents transform urban neighborhoods basedon strategies which derive from their own social loca-tions and identities Sucharrsquos photographs recordrefurbishing redecorating and ways of occupyingspace Suchar approaches his project as a documen-tary photographer and his photographic skill andsociological acuity lead to visual essays that couldgrace museum walls as well as sociological articlesThe portfolios of fine-arts quality images presented toresearch subjects encourage serious engagement(Figure 2)

Sucharrsquos environmentally contexted portraitsportray new residents who represent the gentrifica-tion process and long-term residents whose worldsare threatened by gentrification Subjects are posed intheir apartments and houses surrounded by theobjects through which they define their spaces Thework recalls the portraits and environmental studiesof suburbia completed by Bill Owens in 1972Owens a photojournalist who was then a student ofJohn Collier included brief statements from thepeople he photographed a rudimentary form of photoelicitation Sucharrsquos work more fully develops thismethod by including lengthy and analytically driven

Table 1 Photo elicitation forms and topics

Dissertations Books Articles reflections on larger studies

Articles research fullydescribed

Social classsocial organizationfamily

2 (Guschker 2000 Sustik 1999)

3 (Barndt 1980 1990 Bunster B 1989)

2 (Collier 1957 Guindi 1998)

2 (Calderola 1985 Steiger 1995)

Communityhistorical ethnography

1 (Sampson-Cordle 2001)

2 (Harper 2001 Schwartz 1992)

2 (Chiozzi 1989 Rusted 1995)

6 (Orellana 1999 Suchar 1988 1992 Suchar and Rotenberg 1994 van der Does et al 1992 Wagner 1978)

Identitybiographyautobiography

3 (Harper 1987b 1994 Spence 1986)

7 (Blinn and Harrist 1991 Clark 1999 Gold 1991 Hethorn and Kaiser 1999 Jansen 1991 Kenney 1993 Smith 1999)

Culturecultural studies 1 (Faccioli and Zuccheri 1998)

8 (Craig et al 1997 Curry and Strauss 1986 Harper 2000 Kretsedemas 1993 Messaris and Gross 1977 Snyder 1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993 Stiebling 1999)

Talking about pictures 17

interviews Both Owens and Suchar used mediumformat photography and produced images consistentwith that photographic technology

It is not however necessary to base elicitationresearch on professional documentary or art photo-graphs Sampson-Cordlersquos recent dissertation (2001)studies the relationship between a rural school and itscommunity by having study subjects (teacherscommunity members and students) photograph theirworlds with inexpensive automatic cameras Hermethods include what she calls ldquophotofeedbackrdquo(where photographers analyze their photographs withwritten comments what might be called photo-self-elicitation) ldquophotointerviewingrdquo (a more conven-tional form of photo elicitation) and ldquophotoessaysrdquowhere subjects integrate several elements of analyt-ical thinking images and reflection

She first performed several pilot studies workingas a photographer to uncover ldquothe biases that mightcome out of years of being a rural educatorrdquo In thesepilot studies she photographed the social world underconsideration and assembled the text and images to

make a photo essay In the analysis sections of thepilot studies she considered her changing role in thecommunity as a researcher and politically committedindividual

These essays were integrated into the lengthy andmany-dimensioned community study Sampson-Cordle shows how people who are not skilled photog-raphers working with extremely modest equipmentcan be taught to record their social worlds and toprocess those visual statements in self-interviewingand conventional elicitation methods (Figure 3)

Historical ethnography can be considered thememory of community For photo elicitation to createhistorical ethnography photographs must representthe earlier experience of people interviewed In prac-tical terms this means that the photos cannot be morethan sixty or perhaps seventy years old

One book-length historical ethnography relies onphoto elicitation (Harper 2001) Here the photos showthe collective organization of agricultural laborfarming technology sixty years in the past and portraitsthat evoke an era in which rural identities were etched

Figure 1 This photograph shows a mother who integrates her child into her work-world Subject ldquoThis picture was taken before Caspar could walk It was easier to bring him along to work then Now he can

walk and reach much more to tear things uprdquoldquoWhen I take him to work I always hope that the telephone wonrsquot ring When I work together with somebody else I often

take him along so that I donrsquot have to answer the telephone Or I take him during vacation time in July and August because there are fewer consultations Today I had a consultation that was not too difficult and during that half hour

Caspar was totally quiet I was glad about that Otherwise I would have explained that I am here alone with Caspar and that when everybody else is on vacation I have to work much morerdquo [continues]

18 D Harper

in the facial expressions the gestures the clothes andthe interactional mannerisms of the people photo-graphed The farmers in the historical photographswere different than the subjects who were interviewedbut their farming was the same as experienced by theresearch subjects The historical photographs became akind of memory bookend a starting point from whichto evaluate changes in farming which had occurred inthe meantime In this instance the historical photo-graphs operated simultaneously on the empiricaldimension (the farmersrsquo saw in the photographs detailsof work they had not specifically imagined fordecades) and subjective dimension as the researchsubjects saw themselves implicitly in images fromearlier decades of their lives

Identity

Researchers using photo elicitation have examinedthe social identity of kids drug addicts ethnicallydifferent immigrants work worlds and visual autobi-

ography As in the case of community photographicstudies of identity rely heavily on what is seen raisingthe question of what parts of identity are not visibleJo Spencersquos (1986) autobiography employs her bodyas a text to confront the social definitions of physicalattractiveness and the experience of her own debili-tating illness One other study (Harper 1987b) is abook-length portrait of a single individual hereWillie a rural artisan reflects on photographs of hisfixing building deconstructing and in creating andrecreating himself through his work

Several studies of identity focus on ways peoplemark themselves through clothes or how they aremarked by illness or ethnic differences The impor-tance of clothes for adolescents made it a naturalstudy using photo elicitation (Hethorn and Kaiser1999) In the matter of ethnicity the invisibility ofethnic difference to outsiders make a photo elicitationa natural method as demonstrated in Goldrsquos researchon Asian immigrantsrsquo definition of Asian ethnicity(1991)

Figure 2 Suchar ldquohellipcould you tell me a little about the things in the photograph hellip are there significant things thererdquoSubject ldquoThe big thing is David and Daniel hellip and Max the cat hellip our other cat Missy would be jealous hellip I should have

dusted the traysrdquoSuchar ldquoWhat about the trays and ice cream collection Thatrsquos obviously a major part of the houserdquo

Subject ldquoTheyrsquore a major part of this room but we try to keep it somewhat balanced We have it balanced so that the collection doesnrsquot take over the house hellip Wersquove been to some peoplersquos houses where the collections take over the house where theyrsquore everywhere and become oppressive hellip Irsquove been to a friendrsquos house in Atlanta where you canrsquot sit down

yoursquove got to move things to sit down hellip When you live with it [the collection] you donrsquot think about itrdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

16 D Harper

is those done apart from sociological or otheracademic theoretical and methodological considera-tions from this consideration

Photo elicitation studies have been concentratedin four areas social organizationsocial class commu-nity identity and culture (in the case of culture wemake the strange bedfellows of cultural studies andstudies of culture) If we present this information in aslightly different form (Table 1) we see how studiesdone in different depths have taken place in differentsubject areas This table excludes those entries thatfall outside the four topics listed

The following discussion highlights how photoelicitation has operated in some of these subject areasand forms of inquiry The discussion does not coverall cells of the table

Social ClassSocial OrganizationFamily

These studies include empirical study of familyphotographs (Guschker 2000) books that documentpopular education movements (Barndt 1980 1990)reports of larger projects in which photo elicitationstudies played a part and studies in which researcherscompleted projects on the impact of children onfamily dynamics (Steiger 1995) and the social organ-ization of an Indonesian village (Calderola 1985)Many of the photographs used in these studies cata-logue social life other photographs are produced bythe people being researched

Steigerrsquos study demonstrates how technicalaspects of photographs contribute to the communica-tion of sociological ideas Steiger uses techniquessuch as double flash varying shutter speeds and thechildrsquos perspective (Figure 1) to suggest the phenom-enological frame of the child Her subjects come fromseveral social classes in Switzerland which allows

the viewer to easily compare the material circum-stances of families with first children and themeanings of these family changes

Steiger has in the meantime rephotographedcouples as they age move and add children to theirfamilies The elicitation interviews now include thethemes of family change and development and thephotographs comprise a kind of family album

Community and Historical Ethnography

Sucharrsquos studies of gentrification (1988 1992 Sucharand Rotenberg 1994) use photographs to show howurban residents transform urban neighborhoods basedon strategies which derive from their own social loca-tions and identities Sucharrsquos photographs recordrefurbishing redecorating and ways of occupyingspace Suchar approaches his project as a documen-tary photographer and his photographic skill andsociological acuity lead to visual essays that couldgrace museum walls as well as sociological articlesThe portfolios of fine-arts quality images presented toresearch subjects encourage serious engagement(Figure 2)

Sucharrsquos environmentally contexted portraitsportray new residents who represent the gentrifica-tion process and long-term residents whose worldsare threatened by gentrification Subjects are posed intheir apartments and houses surrounded by theobjects through which they define their spaces Thework recalls the portraits and environmental studiesof suburbia completed by Bill Owens in 1972Owens a photojournalist who was then a student ofJohn Collier included brief statements from thepeople he photographed a rudimentary form of photoelicitation Sucharrsquos work more fully develops thismethod by including lengthy and analytically driven

Table 1 Photo elicitation forms and topics

Dissertations Books Articles reflections on larger studies

Articles research fullydescribed

Social classsocial organizationfamily

2 (Guschker 2000 Sustik 1999)

3 (Barndt 1980 1990 Bunster B 1989)

2 (Collier 1957 Guindi 1998)

2 (Calderola 1985 Steiger 1995)

Communityhistorical ethnography

1 (Sampson-Cordle 2001)

2 (Harper 2001 Schwartz 1992)

2 (Chiozzi 1989 Rusted 1995)

6 (Orellana 1999 Suchar 1988 1992 Suchar and Rotenberg 1994 van der Does et al 1992 Wagner 1978)

Identitybiographyautobiography

3 (Harper 1987b 1994 Spence 1986)

7 (Blinn and Harrist 1991 Clark 1999 Gold 1991 Hethorn and Kaiser 1999 Jansen 1991 Kenney 1993 Smith 1999)

Culturecultural studies 1 (Faccioli and Zuccheri 1998)

8 (Craig et al 1997 Curry and Strauss 1986 Harper 2000 Kretsedemas 1993 Messaris and Gross 1977 Snyder 1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993 Stiebling 1999)

Talking about pictures 17

interviews Both Owens and Suchar used mediumformat photography and produced images consistentwith that photographic technology

It is not however necessary to base elicitationresearch on professional documentary or art photo-graphs Sampson-Cordlersquos recent dissertation (2001)studies the relationship between a rural school and itscommunity by having study subjects (teacherscommunity members and students) photograph theirworlds with inexpensive automatic cameras Hermethods include what she calls ldquophotofeedbackrdquo(where photographers analyze their photographs withwritten comments what might be called photo-self-elicitation) ldquophotointerviewingrdquo (a more conven-tional form of photo elicitation) and ldquophotoessaysrdquowhere subjects integrate several elements of analyt-ical thinking images and reflection

She first performed several pilot studies workingas a photographer to uncover ldquothe biases that mightcome out of years of being a rural educatorrdquo In thesepilot studies she photographed the social world underconsideration and assembled the text and images to

make a photo essay In the analysis sections of thepilot studies she considered her changing role in thecommunity as a researcher and politically committedindividual

These essays were integrated into the lengthy andmany-dimensioned community study Sampson-Cordle shows how people who are not skilled photog-raphers working with extremely modest equipmentcan be taught to record their social worlds and toprocess those visual statements in self-interviewingand conventional elicitation methods (Figure 3)

Historical ethnography can be considered thememory of community For photo elicitation to createhistorical ethnography photographs must representthe earlier experience of people interviewed In prac-tical terms this means that the photos cannot be morethan sixty or perhaps seventy years old

One book-length historical ethnography relies onphoto elicitation (Harper 2001) Here the photos showthe collective organization of agricultural laborfarming technology sixty years in the past and portraitsthat evoke an era in which rural identities were etched

Figure 1 This photograph shows a mother who integrates her child into her work-world Subject ldquoThis picture was taken before Caspar could walk It was easier to bring him along to work then Now he can

walk and reach much more to tear things uprdquoldquoWhen I take him to work I always hope that the telephone wonrsquot ring When I work together with somebody else I often

take him along so that I donrsquot have to answer the telephone Or I take him during vacation time in July and August because there are fewer consultations Today I had a consultation that was not too difficult and during that half hour

Caspar was totally quiet I was glad about that Otherwise I would have explained that I am here alone with Caspar and that when everybody else is on vacation I have to work much morerdquo [continues]

18 D Harper

in the facial expressions the gestures the clothes andthe interactional mannerisms of the people photo-graphed The farmers in the historical photographswere different than the subjects who were interviewedbut their farming was the same as experienced by theresearch subjects The historical photographs became akind of memory bookend a starting point from whichto evaluate changes in farming which had occurred inthe meantime In this instance the historical photo-graphs operated simultaneously on the empiricaldimension (the farmersrsquo saw in the photographs detailsof work they had not specifically imagined fordecades) and subjective dimension as the researchsubjects saw themselves implicitly in images fromearlier decades of their lives

Identity

Researchers using photo elicitation have examinedthe social identity of kids drug addicts ethnicallydifferent immigrants work worlds and visual autobi-

ography As in the case of community photographicstudies of identity rely heavily on what is seen raisingthe question of what parts of identity are not visibleJo Spencersquos (1986) autobiography employs her bodyas a text to confront the social definitions of physicalattractiveness and the experience of her own debili-tating illness One other study (Harper 1987b) is abook-length portrait of a single individual hereWillie a rural artisan reflects on photographs of hisfixing building deconstructing and in creating andrecreating himself through his work

Several studies of identity focus on ways peoplemark themselves through clothes or how they aremarked by illness or ethnic differences The impor-tance of clothes for adolescents made it a naturalstudy using photo elicitation (Hethorn and Kaiser1999) In the matter of ethnicity the invisibility ofethnic difference to outsiders make a photo elicitationa natural method as demonstrated in Goldrsquos researchon Asian immigrantsrsquo definition of Asian ethnicity(1991)

Figure 2 Suchar ldquohellipcould you tell me a little about the things in the photograph hellip are there significant things thererdquoSubject ldquoThe big thing is David and Daniel hellip and Max the cat hellip our other cat Missy would be jealous hellip I should have

dusted the traysrdquoSuchar ldquoWhat about the trays and ice cream collection Thatrsquos obviously a major part of the houserdquo

Subject ldquoTheyrsquore a major part of this room but we try to keep it somewhat balanced We have it balanced so that the collection doesnrsquot take over the house hellip Wersquove been to some peoplersquos houses where the collections take over the house where theyrsquore everywhere and become oppressive hellip Irsquove been to a friendrsquos house in Atlanta where you canrsquot sit down

yoursquove got to move things to sit down hellip When you live with it [the collection] you donrsquot think about itrdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

Talking about pictures 17

interviews Both Owens and Suchar used mediumformat photography and produced images consistentwith that photographic technology

It is not however necessary to base elicitationresearch on professional documentary or art photo-graphs Sampson-Cordlersquos recent dissertation (2001)studies the relationship between a rural school and itscommunity by having study subjects (teacherscommunity members and students) photograph theirworlds with inexpensive automatic cameras Hermethods include what she calls ldquophotofeedbackrdquo(where photographers analyze their photographs withwritten comments what might be called photo-self-elicitation) ldquophotointerviewingrdquo (a more conven-tional form of photo elicitation) and ldquophotoessaysrdquowhere subjects integrate several elements of analyt-ical thinking images and reflection

She first performed several pilot studies workingas a photographer to uncover ldquothe biases that mightcome out of years of being a rural educatorrdquo In thesepilot studies she photographed the social world underconsideration and assembled the text and images to

make a photo essay In the analysis sections of thepilot studies she considered her changing role in thecommunity as a researcher and politically committedindividual

These essays were integrated into the lengthy andmany-dimensioned community study Sampson-Cordle shows how people who are not skilled photog-raphers working with extremely modest equipmentcan be taught to record their social worlds and toprocess those visual statements in self-interviewingand conventional elicitation methods (Figure 3)

Historical ethnography can be considered thememory of community For photo elicitation to createhistorical ethnography photographs must representthe earlier experience of people interviewed In prac-tical terms this means that the photos cannot be morethan sixty or perhaps seventy years old

One book-length historical ethnography relies onphoto elicitation (Harper 2001) Here the photos showthe collective organization of agricultural laborfarming technology sixty years in the past and portraitsthat evoke an era in which rural identities were etched

Figure 1 This photograph shows a mother who integrates her child into her work-world Subject ldquoThis picture was taken before Caspar could walk It was easier to bring him along to work then Now he can

walk and reach much more to tear things uprdquoldquoWhen I take him to work I always hope that the telephone wonrsquot ring When I work together with somebody else I often

take him along so that I donrsquot have to answer the telephone Or I take him during vacation time in July and August because there are fewer consultations Today I had a consultation that was not too difficult and during that half hour

Caspar was totally quiet I was glad about that Otherwise I would have explained that I am here alone with Caspar and that when everybody else is on vacation I have to work much morerdquo [continues]

18 D Harper

in the facial expressions the gestures the clothes andthe interactional mannerisms of the people photo-graphed The farmers in the historical photographswere different than the subjects who were interviewedbut their farming was the same as experienced by theresearch subjects The historical photographs became akind of memory bookend a starting point from whichto evaluate changes in farming which had occurred inthe meantime In this instance the historical photo-graphs operated simultaneously on the empiricaldimension (the farmersrsquo saw in the photographs detailsof work they had not specifically imagined fordecades) and subjective dimension as the researchsubjects saw themselves implicitly in images fromearlier decades of their lives

Identity

Researchers using photo elicitation have examinedthe social identity of kids drug addicts ethnicallydifferent immigrants work worlds and visual autobi-

ography As in the case of community photographicstudies of identity rely heavily on what is seen raisingthe question of what parts of identity are not visibleJo Spencersquos (1986) autobiography employs her bodyas a text to confront the social definitions of physicalattractiveness and the experience of her own debili-tating illness One other study (Harper 1987b) is abook-length portrait of a single individual hereWillie a rural artisan reflects on photographs of hisfixing building deconstructing and in creating andrecreating himself through his work

Several studies of identity focus on ways peoplemark themselves through clothes or how they aremarked by illness or ethnic differences The impor-tance of clothes for adolescents made it a naturalstudy using photo elicitation (Hethorn and Kaiser1999) In the matter of ethnicity the invisibility ofethnic difference to outsiders make a photo elicitationa natural method as demonstrated in Goldrsquos researchon Asian immigrantsrsquo definition of Asian ethnicity(1991)

Figure 2 Suchar ldquohellipcould you tell me a little about the things in the photograph hellip are there significant things thererdquoSubject ldquoThe big thing is David and Daniel hellip and Max the cat hellip our other cat Missy would be jealous hellip I should have

dusted the traysrdquoSuchar ldquoWhat about the trays and ice cream collection Thatrsquos obviously a major part of the houserdquo

Subject ldquoTheyrsquore a major part of this room but we try to keep it somewhat balanced We have it balanced so that the collection doesnrsquot take over the house hellip Wersquove been to some peoplersquos houses where the collections take over the house where theyrsquore everywhere and become oppressive hellip Irsquove been to a friendrsquos house in Atlanta where you canrsquot sit down

yoursquove got to move things to sit down hellip When you live with it [the collection] you donrsquot think about itrdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

18 D Harper

in the facial expressions the gestures the clothes andthe interactional mannerisms of the people photo-graphed The farmers in the historical photographswere different than the subjects who were interviewedbut their farming was the same as experienced by theresearch subjects The historical photographs became akind of memory bookend a starting point from whichto evaluate changes in farming which had occurred inthe meantime In this instance the historical photo-graphs operated simultaneously on the empiricaldimension (the farmersrsquo saw in the photographs detailsof work they had not specifically imagined fordecades) and subjective dimension as the researchsubjects saw themselves implicitly in images fromearlier decades of their lives

Identity

Researchers using photo elicitation have examinedthe social identity of kids drug addicts ethnicallydifferent immigrants work worlds and visual autobi-

ography As in the case of community photographicstudies of identity rely heavily on what is seen raisingthe question of what parts of identity are not visibleJo Spencersquos (1986) autobiography employs her bodyas a text to confront the social definitions of physicalattractiveness and the experience of her own debili-tating illness One other study (Harper 1987b) is abook-length portrait of a single individual hereWillie a rural artisan reflects on photographs of hisfixing building deconstructing and in creating andrecreating himself through his work

Several studies of identity focus on ways peoplemark themselves through clothes or how they aremarked by illness or ethnic differences The impor-tance of clothes for adolescents made it a naturalstudy using photo elicitation (Hethorn and Kaiser1999) In the matter of ethnicity the invisibility ofethnic difference to outsiders make a photo elicitationa natural method as demonstrated in Goldrsquos researchon Asian immigrantsrsquo definition of Asian ethnicity(1991)

Figure 2 Suchar ldquohellipcould you tell me a little about the things in the photograph hellip are there significant things thererdquoSubject ldquoThe big thing is David and Daniel hellip and Max the cat hellip our other cat Missy would be jealous hellip I should have

dusted the traysrdquoSuchar ldquoWhat about the trays and ice cream collection Thatrsquos obviously a major part of the houserdquo

Subject ldquoTheyrsquore a major part of this room but we try to keep it somewhat balanced We have it balanced so that the collection doesnrsquot take over the house hellip Wersquove been to some peoplersquos houses where the collections take over the house where theyrsquore everywhere and become oppressive hellip Irsquove been to a friendrsquos house in Atlanta where you canrsquot sit down

yoursquove got to move things to sit down hellip When you live with it [the collection] you donrsquot think about itrdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

Talking about pictures 19

The key element is not the form of the visualrepresentation but its relationship with the cultureunder study Images may be made by the researcheror the subject during the research or they may havebeen made prior to the study as in the case of wheresubjects interpret their pasts through the analysis ofphoto archives (Chiozzi 1989 Harper 2001)

CultureCultural Studies

At the core of cultural studies is the interpretation ofsigns A common criticism of cultural studies is thatresearchers often assume how audiences or a publicdefine hegemonic or other ideological messagesPhoto elicitation offers a means for grounding culturalstudies in the mundane interpretations of cultureusers Three studies of advertising texts (Craig et al1997 Harper and Faccioli 2000 Kretsedemas 1993)may offer a model of how this could be done In these

studies researchers interviewed subjects such asAfrican Americans Italian and American women andothers about meanings of advertisements to show howthe groups that advertisements are aimed at interpret(accept contest or reject) their messages Theseinsights must then be understood theoretically that isas indicators of cultural processing of sociologicallymeaningful messages

Several elicitation studies focused on themeaning of local cultures In these studies aresearcher takes photographs of a group doing itsnormal round of activity Interviews inspire subjectsto define how they interpret the events depictedSeveral athletic subcultures have been investigatedin this manner (Curry and Strauss 1986 Snyder1990 Snyder and Ammons 1993) This is a straight-forward procedure which sometimes producesstudies that beg for greater theoretical and substan-tive significance In other words the micro study

Figure 3 The photograph informs narrative passages such as the following excerpt from the dissertationldquoItrsquos over The eveningrsquos awards essays words of encouragement and inspiration anecdotes acknowledgements songs and tears give way to applause The new graduates stand and turn to leave the stage In honor of the new graduates the

schoolrsquos juniors follow tradition and hold lit candles standing along the aisle to send their former classmates off into the world and to take their place as the new legion at the top of the class With much fanfare the audience cheers and applauds the six young adults who are whisking by holding their caps to their heads and clutching their diplomas in hand hellip As the

applause subsides the house lights are brought up Audience members and distinguished guests stand and stretch in the auditorium made cooler by the night breezes They turn and shake hands hug or call out to acquaintances former

teachers neighbors customers coworkers and family members Some of these individuals are parents who have just completed an official association with the school that began thirteen years ago Many of the ceremonyrsquos attendees are

Woody Gap graduates with children grandchildren or great-grandchildren enrolled at Woody Gap School There are some children racing down the aisle who are attending the school their great great-grandparents attended sixty years agordquo

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

20 D Harper

culture that can be visualized may become an end initself With this muted criticism in mind it is mostremarkable how few investigations of local culturehave used photo elicitation an obvious choice forcircumstances in which the local cultures have adistinctive visual character

METHODOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM A FREQUENT FLYERIn-depth interviewing in all its forms faces the chal-lenge of establishing communication between twopeople who rarely share taken-for-granted culturalbackgrounds Sociological questions are often notmeaningful to non-sociologists There is the needdescribed in all qualitative methods books ofbridging gaps between the worlds of the researcherand the researched Photo elicitation may overcomethe difficulties posed by in-depth interviewingbecause it is anchored in an image that is understoodat least in part by both parties If the interview hasbeen successful the understanding has increasedthrough the interview process In the following Idiscuss two ways in which photo elicitation may leadresearchers and subjects toward that commonunderstanding

Breaking Frames

Photos do not automatically elicit useful interviewsFor example I photographed farmers in my neigh-borhood to guide interviews that I hoped wouldexplore the phenomenology of farming I was inter-ested in how farmers defined the land animals theyraised milked and decided the fate of the changingrole of agricultural technology their relationshipswith neighbors and their identity as farmers Thephotographs I made of their work did not evokedeep reflections on the issues I was interested in Icame to think that it was perhaps because my photo-graphs looked essentially like the illustrations in themany farm magazines found in the house and shopThey did not break the frame of farmersrsquo normalviews they did not lead to a reflective stance vis-agrave-vis the taken-for-granted aspects of work andcommunity

I was eventually able to gain this perspective(Harper 2001) by using aerial photographs (Figure 4)and historical photographs (Figure 5) The aerialphotos led farmers to reflect upon farm strategiesstructural differences between farms and the patternsof change The historical photos evoked aspects of thepast that have a great deal of significance in the

Figure 4 Farmers used aerial photos to describe technologies of farming that were hardly visible at ground level such as the manure pit shown in this image Having several aerial photographs of farms available in an interview encouraged

farmers to discuss how and why they and their neighbors had chosen one strategy over another

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

Talking about pictures 21

context of farmingrsquos continuing evolution Suddenlypreviously taciturn farmers had a great deal to say

I faced a similar problem studying the skill andsocial existence of an individual working in amechanical shop (Harper 1987b) At first I photo-graphed from what one would take as the normalview that is with a 35-mm lens held at eye level Iwas reproducing the perspective through which anyperson in the environment would gaze and thesephotographs did not lead to any deep commentaryfrom Willie the shop owner When I photographedfrom unusual angles or from very close (Figure 6) itled Willie to see his activities from a new and inter-esting perspective

As Willie saw his world from a new perspectivehe came to realize how little of it I understood Williethen welcomed a role in which he used the photos toteach me about his normal routines and knowledgeHe also began to make suggestions for what and how

I should photograph for the next stages of ourresearch

These few examples demonstrate how photo-graphs can jolt subjects into a new awareness of theirsocial existence As someone considers this newframing of taken-for-granted experiences they areable to deconstruct5 their own phenomenologicalassumptions

Crossing Cultural Boundaries

The idea behind breaking the frame is that photo-graphs may lead an individual to a new view of theirsocial existence It is also possible to use images asbridges between worlds that are more culturallydistinct In ongoing research two colleagues oneAmerican (the author) and the other Italian (Faccioli)are using photo elicitation in research on Italianculture In these studies (Harper 2000 Harper and

Figure 5 This photograph of a neighborhood threshing crew circa 1945 was shown to several farmers who had worked together in similar crews during their youth Several messages were conveyed farmers remembered the social

connections they experienced as part of such work crews and they remembered details of events people and circumstances that gave meaning to the memory of farming The farm wives who had prepared the feast the men were

eating often contested these idyllic perspectives the labor exchange required intense preparation and little of the sociability experienced by the men

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

22 D Harper

Faccioli 2000) the American researcher has photo-graphed topics such as the social life of a piazza thenegotiation of traffic from a bicycle and an auto inurban traffic and family dinners in private homesThese photographs are then used in interviews withItalian subjects completed by the second author Inaddition to deconstructing the portrayed events andscenes normal questions include ldquowhat has been leftoutrdquo of this photo sequence

Van der Does and her four Dutch co-authors(1992) used photo elicitation to explore the culturaldefinitions of five ethnically distinct Dutch neighborsThe five researchers completed interviews in whicheach subject outlined their history in the neighbor-hood The researchers and subjects toured theneighborhood and photographed important topicsThe researchers then completed photo elicitationinterviews with the photos Finally the photosequences were exchanged so for example an elderlywhite Dutch resident could see how her neighborhoodis defined by a Moroccan youth with whom she has

never communicated and for whom she feels somedegree of apprehension

In these examples the photographs become some-thing like a Rorschach ink blot in which people ofdifferent cultures spin out their respective worlds ofmeaning This procedure is fueled by the radical butsimple idea that two people standing side by sidelooking at identical objects see different things6

When a photo is made of that shared view the differ-ences in perception can be defined compared andeventually understood to be socially constructed byboth parties

SUMMARYUnlike many research methods photo elicitationworks (or does not) for rather mysterious reasons Iconsider photo elicitation useful in studies that areempirical and rather conventional photo elicitationmay add validity and reliability to a word-basedsurvey (recall this was Collierrsquos first project) But atthe other extreme I believe photo elicitation mines

Figure 6 ldquoWhat I find hard about sharpening a chain sawrdquo I say ldquois transferring the pressure from one hand to the other so youhelliprdquo

Willie ldquohellipso yoursquore keeping an even pressure going across ndash so you arenrsquot rocking your filerdquoldquoIrsquove watched you cut a slot in a log ndash [the saw] doesnrsquot have to be in your vice ndash it doesnrsquot have to be in a perfect situation

ndash and no matter what position yoursquore in yoursquore still able to re-create the even pressure the straight movement of the file across the teethhelliprdquo

Willie ldquoYoursquove got to have the steady movement the steady flowhelliprdquo [continues]

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

Talking about pictures 23

deeper shafts into a different part of humanconsciousness than do words-alone interviews It ispartly due to how remembering is enlarged by photo-graphs and partly due to the particular quality of thephotograph itself Photographs appear to capture theimpossible a person gone an event past Thatextraordinary sense of seeming to retrieve somethingthat has disappeared belongs alone to the photographand it leads to deep and interesting talk

Throughout this paper I have maintained animpartial stance The truth is that in photo elicitation Ihave found a method in which I have taken a deeppleasure I think this is partly due to my interest inphotographs I want to enter the time machine prom-ised by the image knowing of course that I cannotBecause I feel this way about photographs it isnatural that I want to share them with others

My enthusiasm for photo elicitation also comesfrom the collaboration it inspires When two or morepeople discuss the meaning of photographs they try tofigure out something together This is I believe anideal model for research

APPENDIXElicitation Studies by Type Presented Chronologically

A Social OrganizationSocial ClassFamily

1 Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic natu-ralistic investigation of the adjustment of refugeesfrom the former Soviet Union to Life in theUnited Statesrdquo (dissertation)

2 Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing tovisual anthropologyrdquo (report of completedresearch)

3 Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children andfamily dynamicsrdquo (article first step of longitu-dinal study)

4 Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts aphotographic research method in anthropologyrdquo(article report of larger study)

5 Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and SocialChange A Photographic Study of Peru (book)

6 Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a studyof proletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo (articleexpanded and published as Bunster Ximena EChaney and E Young 1989 Sellers and Serv-ants Working Women in Lima Peru book)

7 Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthro-pology a report on two experimentsrdquo (reports oncompleted research)

B Community

1 Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploringthe relationship between a small rural school inNortheast Georgia and its community an image-

based study using participant-produced photo-graphsrdquo (dissertation)

2 Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 ldquoSpace andplace in an urban landscape learning from chil-drenrsquos views of their social worldsrdquo (article)

3 Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photog-raphy and the performance of heritagerdquo (article)

4 Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994ldquoJudging the adequacy of shelter a case fromLincoln Parkrdquo (article)

5 van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar ImkeGooskens Margreet Liefting and Marije vanMierlo 1992 ldquoReading images a study of aDutch neighborhoodrdquo (article)

6 Suchar Charles S 1992 ldquoIcons and images ofgentrification the changed material culture of anurban communityrdquo (article)

7 Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma TwilightGenerations of the Farm (book)

8 Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing thechanging material culture of a gentrified commu-nityrdquo (article)

9 Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a plannedcommunityrdquo (chapter)

C Historical Ethnography

1 Harper Douglas 2001 Changing Works Visionsof a Lost Agriculture (book)

2 Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthro-pological research three case studiesrdquo (article)

D IdentityBiography

1 Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world andreality of life ndash a sociological study about the roleof private photos for the meaningfulness of iden-tityrdquo (PhD dissertation in German)

2 Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven inter-view a photographic viewfinder into childrenrsquosexperiencerdquo (article)

3 Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouthstyle articulating cultural anxietyrdquo (article)

4 Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reac-tions of subjectsrdquo (article)

5 Harper Douglas ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952The Anthropological Vision of Timothy Asch(book)

6 Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photo-graphs to understand self-concepts of Chineseand American university studentsrdquo (article)

7 Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries andethnic entrepreneurship a photo-elicitationstudyrdquo (article)

8 Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than toomuchrdquo (article)

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

24 D Harper

9 Harper Douglas 1987 Working KnowledgeSkill and Community in a Small Shop (book)

10 Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture APolitical Personal and Photographic Autobiog-raphy (book)

E Popular CultureCultural Studies

1 Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender inyouth sportsrdquo (article)

2 Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998ldquoThe double vision of alcoholrdquo (article)

3 Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993ldquoBaseballrsquos emotion work getting psyched toplayrdquo (article)

4 Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport acase study of collegiate women gymnastsrdquo(article)

5 Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986ldquoA little pain never hurt anybody a photo-essayon the normalization of sports injuriesrdquo (article)

6 Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpre-tations of a photographic narrative by viewers infour age groupsrdquo (article)

F Cultural Studies Reading Advertising Texts

1 Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000ldquolsquoSmall silly insultsrsquo mutual seduction andmisogyny the interpretation of Italian advertisingsignsrdquo (article)

2 Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and BruceGryniewski 1997 ldquoPicturing African-Ameri-cans readers reading magazine advertisementsrdquo(article)

3 Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertise-ments race vs ethnicityrdquo (article)

G Evaluation Studies

1 Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating techno-logical innovationsrdquo (article)

2 Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994ldquoUsing photo-interviewing as a tool for researchand evaluationrdquo (article)

H Institutional Culture

1 Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process thecontribution of a re-engineering framerdquo (article)

NOTES

[1] I identified only one elicitation study that was based onvisual texts other than photographs Peter Cowan (1999)studied the art Latino adolescents painted on low-rider autoswith elicitation interviews His study examined the intersec-tions of age ethnicity power and artistic practice Thepaintings are semiotic collages that draw on various and

conflicting meanings of Latino past and they are wellpainted For the study however the subjects commented onphotographs of their art texts rather than the textsthemselves

[2] ldquoChronicle of a Summerrdquo was the subject of Studies inVisual Communication 11(1) 1985 The journal editionincluded articles by the filmmakers some of the participantsand the complete filmscript providing a model for a socio-logical study of film

[3] For an overview of these related projects see the text byConnor et al (1986)

[4] See Krebs (1975) for an overview and procedural sugges-tions Banks (200196ndash99) describes challenges anddifficulties of using film elicitation Recent film elicitationstudies include Bissell (2000)

[5] For a useful description of deconstruction based on non-elicitation interviewing see Gubrium et al (199447182ndash203) The natural methodological connection betweenphenomenologically inspired researchers and photo elicita-tion has yet to be developed

[6] For an yet another interesting connection yet to be madesee Zerubavel (199723ndash34) Zerubavel calls the visualconstruction of reality ldquosocial opticsrdquo but does not associatehis cognitive sociology to its natural parallels in visual soci-ology or photo elicitation

REFERENCES

Banks Marcus 2001 Visual Methods in Social ResearchLondon Sage

Barndt Deborah 1980 Education and Social Change APhotographic Study of Peru Dubuque IA KendallHunt

Barndt Deborah 1990 To Change This House PopularEducation Under the Sandinistas Toronto Betweenthe Lines Press

Berger John 1992 Keeping a Rendezvous New YorkVintage International

Blinn Lynn and Amanda W Harrist 1991 ldquoCombiningnative instant photography and photo-elicitationrdquoVisual Anthropology 4175ndash192

Bissell Susan 2000 ldquoIn focus film focus groups andworking children in Bangladeshrdquo Visual Anthro-pology 13(2)169ndash183

Buchanan D 1998 ldquoRepresenting process the contribu-tion of a re-engineering framerdquo International Journalof Operations and Production Management 18(1112)1163ndash1182

Bunster Ximena 1978 ldquoTalking pictures a study ofproletarian mothers in Lima Perurdquo Studies in theAnthropology of Visual Communication 5(1)37ndash55

Bunster Ximena Elsa Chaney and Ellan Young 1989Sellers and Servants Working Women in Lima PeruNew York Bergin and Garvey

Calderola Victor 1985 ldquoVisual contexts a photographicresearch method in anthropologyrdquo Studies in VisualCommunication 11(3)33ndash55

Chiozzi Paolo 1989 ldquoPhotography and anthropologicalresearch three case studiesrdquo in Robert BoonzajerFlaes ed Eyes Across the Water Amsterdam HetSpinhuis 43ndash50

Clark Cindy Dell 1999 ldquoThe autodriven interview aphotographic viewfinder into childrenrsquos experiencerdquoVisual Sociology 14(12)39ndash50

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

Talking about pictures 25

Collier John Jr 1957 ldquoPhotography in anthropology areport on two experimentsrdquo American Anthropologist59843ndash859

mdashmdashmdash 1967 Visual Anthropology Photography as aResearch Method New York Holt Rinehart andWinston

mdashmdashmdash 1987 ldquoVisual anthropologyrsquos contributions to thefield of anthropologyrdquo Visual Anthropology1(1)37ndash46

Collier John Jr and Malcolm Collier 1986 Visual Anthro-pology Photography as a Research Method (revisedand expanded) Albuquerque University of NewMexico Press

Connor Linda Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch 1986 JeroTapakan Balinese Healer an Ethnographic FilmMonograph Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Cowan Peter 1999 ldquolsquoDrawnrsquo into the community re-considering the artwork of Latino adolescentsrdquo VisualSociology 14(12)91ndash107

Craig Robert Philip Kretsedemas and Bruce Gryniewski1997 ldquoPicturing African-Americans readers readingmagazine advertisementsrdquo Visual Sociology12(1)28ndash58

Curry Timothy Jon and Richard Strauss 1986 ldquoA littlepain never hurt anybody a photo-essay on the normal-ization of sports injuriesrdquo Sociology of Sport Journal11(2)192ndash208

Dempsey John V and Susan A Tucker 1994 ldquoUsingphoto-interviewing as a tool for research and evalua-tionrdquo Educational-Technology 34(4)55ndash62

Emmison Michael and Philip Smith 2001 Researchingthe Visual Images Objects Contexts and Interactionsin Social and Cultural Inquiry London Sage

Faccioli Patrizia and Nicoletta Zuccheri 1998 ldquoThedouble vision of alcoholrdquo Visual Sociology13(2)75ndash90

Gold Steven J 1991 ldquoEthnic boundaries and ethnic entre-preneurship a photo-elicitation studyrdquo VisualSociology 6(2)9ndash22

Gubrium Jaber F James Holstein and David R Buck-holdt 1994 Constructing the Life Course New YorkGeneral Hall

Guindi Fadwa El 1998 ldquoFrom pictorializing to visualanthropologyrdquo in H Russel Hernard ed Handbookof Methods in Cultural Anthropology London Sage459ndash511

Guschker Stefan 2000 ldquoPicture world and reality of life ndasha sociological study about the role of private photos forthe meaningfulness of identityrdquo PhD dissertationGermany (in German)

Harper Douglas 1987a ldquoThe visual ethnographic narra-tiverdquo Visual Anthropology 1(1)1ndash19

mdashmdashmdash 1987b Working Knowledge Skill and Communityin a Small Shop Chicago University of ChicagoPress

mdashmdashmdash 1988 ldquoVisual sociology expanding sociologicalvisionrdquo The American Sociologist 19(1)54ndash70

mdashmdashmdash 1993 ldquoOn the authority of the image visual soci-ology at the crossroadsrdquo in Norman K Denzin andYvonna Lincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative

Research Newbury Park CA Sage Publications403ndash412

mdashmdashmdash ed 1994 Cape Breton 1952 The Anthropolog-ical Vision of Timothy Asch Louisville InternationalVisual Sociology Association

mdashmdashmdash 1998 ldquoAn argument for visual sociologyrdquo JonProsser ed Image-based Research A Sourcebook forQualitative Researchers London Falmer Press24ndash41

mdashmdashmdash 2000 ldquoReimagining visual methods Galileo toNeuromancerrdquo in Norman Denzin and YvonnaLincoln eds Handbook of Qualitative Research 2ndedn Thousand Oaks CA Sage Publications717ndash732

mdashmdashmdash 2001 Changing Works Visions of a Lost Agricul-ture Chicago University of Chicago Press

Harper Douglas and Patrizia Faccioli 2000 ldquolsquoSmall sillyinsultsrsquo mutual seduction and misogyny the interpre-tation of Italian advertising signsrdquo Visual Sociology15(12)23ndash49

Hethorn Janet and Susan Kaiser 1999 ldquoYouth style artic-ulating cultural anxietyrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)109ndash125

Hockings Paul ed 1975 Principles of Visual Anthro-pology The Hague Mouton Publishers

Jansen Margriet 1991 ldquoBetter little than too muchrdquoVisual Sociology Review 6(1)13ndash23

Kenney Keith 1993 ldquoUsing self-portrait photographs tounderstand self-concepts of Chinese and AmericanUniversity Studentsrdquo Visual Anthropology5245ndash269

Krebs Stephanie 1975 ldquoThe film elicitation techniquerdquo inPaul Hockings ed Principles of Visual AnthropologyThe Hague Mouton Publishers 283ndash302

Kretsedemas Philip 1993 ldquoReading advertisements racevs ethnicityrdquo Visual Sociology 8(2)40ndash47

Messaris Paul and Larry Gross 1977 ldquoInterpretations of aphotographic narrative by viewers in four age groupsrdquoStudies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication4(2)99ndash111

Nichols Bill 1991 Representing Reality BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Orellana Marjorie Faulstich 1999 Space and place in anurban landscape learning from childrenrsquos views oftheir social worldsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12)73ndash89

Owens Bill 1972 Suburbia San Francisco StraightArrow Books

Rusted Brian 1995 ldquoFraming a house photography andthe performance of heritagerdquo Canadian Folklore17(2)139ndash157

Sampson-Cordle Alice Vera 2001 ldquoExploring the rela-tionship between a small rural school in NortheastGeorgia and its community an image-based studyusing participant-produced photographsrdquo PhDdissertation Athens Georgia

Schwartz Dona 1992 Waucoma Twilight Generations ofthe Farm Washington DC Smithsonian Press

Smith C Zoe and Anne-Marie Woodward 1999 ldquoPhoto-elicitation method gives voice and reactions ofsubjectsrdquo Journalism-and-Mass-Communication-Educator 53(4)31ndash41

26 D Harper

Snyder Eldon E 1990 ldquoEmotion and sport a case study ofcollegiate women gymnastsrdquo Sociology of SportJournal 7(3)254ndash270

Snyder Eldon E and Ronald Ammons 1993 ldquoBaseballrsquosemotion work getting psyched to playrdquo QualitativeSociology 16(2)111ndash132

Spence Jo 1986 Putting Myself in the Picture A PoliticalPersonal and Photographic Autobiography SeattleReal Comet Press

Steiger Ricabeth 1995 ldquoFirst children and familydynamicsrdquo Visual Sociology 10(12)28ndash49

Stiebling Megan T 1999 ldquoPracticing gender in youthsportsrdquo Visual Sociology 14(12) 127ndash144

Suchar Charles S 1988 ldquoPhotographing the changingmaterial culture of a gentrified communityrdquo VisualSociology Review 3(2)17ndash22

mdashmdashmdash 1992 ldquoIcons and images of gentrification thechanged material culture of an urban communityrdquoGentrification and Urban Change Research in UrbanSociology 2165ndash192

Suchar Charles S and Robert Rotenberg 1994 ldquoJudgingthe adequacy of shelter a case from Lincoln ParkrdquoJournal of Architectural and Planning Research11(2)149ndash165

Sustik Anne 1999 ldquoAn auto-photographic naturalisticinvestigation of the adjustment of refugees from theformer Soviet Union to life in the United StatesrdquoPhD dissertation Loyola University

Tucker Susan A and John V Dempsey 1991 ldquoPhoto-interviewing a tool for evaluating technological inno-vationsrdquo Evaluation-Review 15(5)639ndash654

van der Does Patricia Sonja Edelaar Imke GooskensMargreet Liefting and Marije van Mierlo 1992ldquoReading images a study of a Dutch neighborhoodrdquoVisual Sociology 7(1)4ndash67

Wagner Jon 1978 ldquoPerceiving a planned communityrdquo inJon Wagner ed Images of Information Beverly HillsCA Sage Publishers 85ndash100

Zerubavel Evitar 1997 Social Mindscapes An Invitationto Cognitive Sociology Cambridge MA HarvardUniversity Press