Lauren Leigh Hinthorne

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words Using the Visual Interpretation Narrative Exercise to Elicit Non-Elite Perceptions of Democracy

This article introduces the visual interpretation narrative exercise, an innovative visual research technique piloted in 2008 during doctoral fieldwork in Madagascar. Designed in the field in response to challenging research conditions, this technique uses cartoons to address sensitive subjects while establishing rapport with non-elite research participants. A three-tiered approach to qualitative data analysis emphasizes indigenous codes of meaning to reveal how concepts commonly associated with democracy are often reappropriated by local actors. Results from this research provide context for why local actors maintain particular attitudes and expectations.

Using digital and instant film photography for research documentation : a research note

This research note investigates the potential of digital and instant film photography as distinct approaches to research documentation. It argues that the quality of visual evidence provided by photographs may depend in part on the researcher’s ability to reliably link images with other sources of data. The research note goes on to contextualize instant film photography as a tested documentation technique, though one not commonly used in qualitative research. Benefits and constraints associated with instant film technology are also discussed. It concludes that instant film photography could have advantages over digital photography when used for multimodal documentation of fast-paced research processes.

Democratic crisis or crisis of confidence? What local perceptual lenses tell us about Madagascar's 2009 political crisis

This paper explores the extent to which democratic values and institutions propagated by the international community and measured by influential governance indices correlate with local perceptions of politics and democracy in one eastern region of Madagascar. A careful reading of the political crisis that erupted in Madagascar in 2009 highlights how ‘undemocratic’ behaviour – a ‘coup’ even – can have roots in democratic desires that have little to do with elections. I argue that local perceptual lenses, identifiable by characteristic competences and dispositions, have considerable interpretive significance regarding what might otherwise be labelled deviant behaviour in unconsolidated or hybrid democracies. Using qualitative data collected using an innovative methodology during five months of ethnographic fieldwork immediately preceding the crisis, this paper examines the interface between international democracy assistance policies and mass local political perceptions. It concludes that long-term prospects for deepening democracy in Africa and elsewhere depend in part on how – and how well – external experts strategically engage with the communities they propose to reform.

Using purpose-made objects for visual research: an exploratory case study

This article responds to Pauwels’ assertion that visual research is no longer the (nearly) exclusive domain of camera-based visual materials and methods. The authors argue that, in certain contexts, objects can provide appropriate and valid visual research materials in their own right. The article begins by examining the institutionalized parameters for visual research established by this journal (Visual Communication), Visual Studies and the International Visual Sociology Association. Next, a careful review of the contemporary literature reveals that objects are already recognized as legitimate visual research materials, albeit discreetly. After describing an exploratory research process that integrated participatory mapping and 3D model-building activities, the authors discuss the potential of purpose-made objects as a distinctive type of visual material. The article concludes by encouraging the acceptance of visual research that looks beyond images.