Rural youth and emotional geographies: how photovoice and words-alone methods tell different stories of place

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper we discuss how photovoice and words-alone methods used in a study with young people living in communities on the west coast of Newfoundland, Canada, helped to tell different stories of rurality. Instead of the dominant narrative of rural decline in the focus groups and interviews with youth, through photovoice young people talked more positively about their home places. Drawing on recent work on emotional geographies and combining realist and constructionist frameworks, we argue that the photographs represent culturally accepted and appropriate ways of thinking, talking, and feeling about place, and that these shared affective practices provide a sense of community and continuity in a context of uncertainty in fisheries communities. It is our contention that such shared practices offer a strategy to deal with, indeed to heal, the damaging impact of the near extinction of fisheries stocks by maintaining a stable sense of self and place.Keywords: photovoiceyouthruralemotional geographiesfisheries FundingThe CURRA initiative is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through its Community-University Research Alliance program [grant number 833-2007-1027] and by Memorial University of Newfoundland, with additional financial and in-kind support from numerous community partners and groups. The Rural Youth subcomponent is also supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [GTA92108].Notes1. The proposal for this research was approved by the Interdisciplinary Committee on Ethics in Human Research and found to be in compliance with Memorial University's ethics policy.Additional informationFundingFunding: The CURRA initiative is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through its Community-University Research Alliance program [grant number 833-2007-1027] and by Memorial University of Newfoundland, with additional financial and in-kind support from numerous community partners and groups. The Rural Youth subcomponent is also supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [GTA92108].