Moshoula Capous-Desyllas

Transgressing the Gendered Norms in Childhood: Understanding Transgender Children and Their Families

ABSTRACT This qualitative study utilized case-study research methodology and ethnographic techniques to highlight the lived experiences of four prepubescent (female affirmed) transgender children and their families. This article presents the exploratory and descriptive findings from a micro perspective of the children, siblings, and their parents, as the prepubescent children transitioned gender and developed their gender identity over time. Through an in-depth portrait of their lives, this article details the strengths and challenges that these families experienced at the micro level, while sharing the limitations, challenges, and areas for future research with trans children and their families.

Tensions, Challenges, and Lessons Learned: Methodological Reflections From Two Photovoice Projects With Sex Workers

We present two arts-based research studies that implemented photovoice method with diverse individuals working in the sex industry. Although these photovoice projects took place in two different cities and at various points in time, their purpose was similar: to highlight the needs, aspirations, health concerns, and issues related to sex workers’ personal lives and their communities to create awareness and social change. In this article, we locate ourselves in our research and describe our methodological process, specifically focusing on how each project manifested in our cities and within our communities. Our aim is to provide insight on the implementation of photovoice method, our personal struggles and challenges within our respective projects at various stages, and how to challenge institutional and social obstacles in conducting photovoice research with sex workers.

Art as mode and medium: a pedagogical approach to teaching and learning about self-reflexivity and artistic expression in qualitative research

ABSTRACT This article highlights the ways in which arts-based approaches to research can be used in teaching and learning about the qualitative research process. Specifically, in our qualitative research class graduate students used the arts as a form of reflexivity to highlight various aspects of their research process, including their positionality, their values, any ethical issues that arose during the research process, and the various methodological steps taken. This collaborative article features the voices of the instructor and three graduate students, who used the mediums of visual art, a blog and a digital diary approach to represent their reflexivity. From the voice of the instructor, we share her rationale for using arts-based approaches in the classroom, her detailed assignment, and the ways in which we can incorporate the arts in teaching about qualitative research. In the form of case examples, three graduate students illustrate their unique qualitative research studies, describing their approach and how they incorporated various artistic mediums as a form of reflexivity within their research. Concluding thoughts will discuss the strengths, limitations and possibilities of using arts-based approaches to teaching and learning about qualitative research.

Collecting visual voices: Understanding identity, community, and the meaning of participation within gay rodeos

Rodeos have been an integral part of American cowboy culture since the 1800s, however, it wasn’t until the 1970s when gay rodeos began to form and challenge some of the assumptions about ‘cowboys,’ ‘sexuality,’ and ‘masculinity.’ The purpose of this ethnographic study was to utilize participant-driven photo-elicitation (PDPE) method to understand how individuals who participate in gay rodeos experience their identities and the meanings they attribute to their participation in this queer subculture. The diverse images shared by the participants illustrate their unique identities and the various meanings they attribute to their participation in gay rodeo. The findings from this study serve to highlight various aspects of the gay rodeo subculture and the role of gay rodeo as a site of support and solidarity for LGBTQ communities. In this study, gay rodeo emerges as a space of contestation, resistance and reification of gender norms and heterosexuality. The findings call into question tensions that exist when trying to dismantle sexual minority stereotypes while simultaneously perpetuating white hegemonic masculinity through the pervasive image of the gay cowboy. Interrogating the ways in which gay rodeo participants simultaneously reinforced and challenged hegemonic masculinity helps to understand how the idealized (hetero)sexual images of cowboys connected to symbolic power, strength and self-worth, position gay rodeo participants. This research study also reveals that participants of gay rodeo, who travel within and across the USA in order to participate in rodeo events, experiment with multiple non-heterosexual identities as they search for spaces and communities away from compulsory heterosexuality.

Using an Arts-Informed Eclectic Approach to Photovoice Data Analysis:

Arts-informed approaches in qualitative research are gaining more recognition as being a critical research approach in the social sciences. Using arts in research is most commonly seen in the data collection process and in data representation, however, very little is written about how to use arts-informed approaches in data analysis. There are no “how-to” guides and researchers who engage in photovoice research often implement traditional qualitative methods for analyzing their data. The purpose of this article is to merge creativity with rigor to illustrate alternative means to analyze photovoice research data. This article serves as a practical and systematic guide for interpreting photographic and interview transcript data from photovoice projects. Various tables illustrate organizational strategies, and collages serve as a metaphor for the analysis process and themes. The benefits of using arts-informed analysis methods include cross-disciplinary study, innovative ways to interpret data, enhancement of trustworthiness and rigor, and building creative mediums as a form of knowledge.

From Visual Maps to Installation Art: Visualizing Client Pathways to Social Services in Los Angeles

This chapter details our process of creating a three-dimensional art installation to represent research findings from a visual mapping project. After collaborating with 27 undergraduate student interns who interviewed clients at various non-profit organizations and used visual mapping methodology to represent their clients’ pathways to services, we represented our research findings through installation art. In this chapter, we illustrate: our process of choosing this art medium and the symbolic representations that made up our three-dimensional art piece; the power of installation art as a multi-sensual experience that allows for new ways of seeing and experiencing; and the significance of providing opportunities for meaningful audience engagement beyond academia by creating new understandings of pathways, barriers, and access to services.

Photovoice as a Pedagogical Tool: Exploring Personal and Professional Values with Female Muslim Social Work Students in an Intercultural Classroom Setting

ABSTRACTThis article explores a classroom project in which we used photovoice as a pedagogical tool to enhance personal and professional self-awareness among female, Muslim, social work students in...

Social Work Practice and Sexuality: Applying a Positive Sexuality Model to Enhance Diversity and Resolve Problems

In recent years, there has been considerable attention within the social work profession surrounding diverse personal, family, and community issues pertaining to sexuality, yet social workers typically receive very little training on sexuality. This article discusses several such issues before introducing a recently proposed positive sexuality framework, which was designed to help facilitate sexual diversity and resolve a wide range of sociosexual problems. The positive sexuality framework is comprised of eight interrelated dimensions and, while designed to address sexual issues specifically, overlaps with and complements social work generalist practice. Thus, social workers and helping professionals may find increased success in better understanding and addressing a wide variety of sociosexual problems and issues by utilizing a positive sexuality framework in conjunction with generalist practice.