Finding my values through PHOTOVOICE

Carri Schneider

First Person Action Research

Fall 2005

WHY do I need to find my values? I recently made many big changes in my life—

including a move from the suburbs to the city and a career change from a second grade classroom teacher to a full-time doctoral student, graduate assistant and intern with a large non-profit organization. All of these changes sent me reeling in search of my identity and values. In order to reconnect to my values, I used PhotoVoice as a tool in my first person action research project to help me find evidence of my values in my new life. The discoveries I made upon reflecting on these photos taken over one weekend in October in 2005 are detailed in this presentation.

PhotoVoice Topics Home Around the House My Many Jobs Giving

Key Discoveries Duality Contradiction

Results Did I find my values? Areas for further (first

person) action research Epiphanies & Conclusions

Resources Photovoice Websites Action Research Websites

Presentation Includes:

HOME: These photos show my previous home & current home.

This is my former home in a wealthy suburb where my husband and I just didn’t fit in. The house was wonderful, but the homogenous neighborhood far from the city didn’t match our values. As soon as we were able, we bought our first home—a loft-style condo in downtown Cincinnati.

This photo shows our new home downtown. Moving here helped me reconcile one of the first times that I realized I was acting in contradiction to my values. While I claimed to value diversity & the revitalization of downtown Cincinnati, living in the suburbs was a major contradiction. Moving to the city provided me with a chance to demonstrate the values I hold.

AROUND THE HOUSE: These photos demonstrate how evidence of my values can be found in the things around my home.

These hand-painted stools were a going-away present from the teachers at the elementary school where I used to work. They are painted with the Phish logo, my favorite band that drew me to over 60 concerts across the country. This gift provides evidence of how well my former co-workers knew me and are also a daily reminder of the career and friends I left.

These photos show evidence of the personal and spiritual values that I generally keep hidden from people who are not close to me. On the table, there are books on Reflexology, Palmistry, Dream Analysis, Feng Shui, and Homeopathy as well as decks of Tarot and Medicine Cards.

In the drawer, there are videos and DVDs on Yoga & Meditation. While I am interested in and value all of these things, I do not usually share these sides of myself with others for fear that they will judge me or think I am strange.

This is a photograph of a large painting that hangs in our living room. It’s called “Songbird” and was a gift from my husband on my birthday. While its beauty provides enough reason to love it, I really see this painting as a representation of myself. At first glance, you cannot see the details of the painting. But, after further inspection, instruments, music notes, a large heart and bright, singing bird surface. This painting represents me and everything I love—art, music, love, peace, and passion.

MY MANY JOBS: These photos show all of my different jobs—student, intern, and graduate assistant.

This is a picture of my home office, even though I don’t get to spend much time there. My diplomas are framed above the desk. There is a Che Guevara flag on one side, and a Bob Marley flag on the other. There are boxes of photos & keepsakes all around. On the top shelf, there are organized school supplies that I brought home when I left the classroom and a stack of jewelry-making supplies—a new hobby that appeals to my creative & giving side.

There are also a number of small items in the photo with stories of their own such as a large Teddy Bear, Pirate Hat, Tiki Statue, exercise ball, and Baseball Cap.

This is the building where I work as an intern at KnowledgeWorks foundation. While I’m finally starting to get comfortable in this corporate environment, I originally took this photo to represent the differences between this large office building and the school where I used to teach, as well as the anxiety that walking into this building used to cause each day. It also shows how different meanings and feelings can be associated with the same photo over time & according to different people.

This is our closet. I took this because the look of our closet had just recently changed. While it used to house long, flowing summer dresses and flowered skirts, I had to replace these items with suits and dress pants. Now my suits hang just under my husband’s. I can’t help but to laugh a little each morning when I go into the closet. Seeing the wall of suits shows how far our wardrobe is from the torn jeans and t-shirts that we wore when we first met. I’ve always associated my clothes with my identity, so it’s been hard for me to realize that I can be the same person I always was, even behind the suit and heels.

This is my office at UC where I work as a graduate student facilitating online classes for the Masters Program in Educational Leadership. Just like my office at home and at my internship, it was important to me to surround myself with things that I love at this workspace as well. I have to be comfortable and organized to be productive, and there is also evidence of this in the photo.

There is a letter from the parent of a former student and several gifts from former students around my desk. As I reflect on this photo, it’s interesting to note that there are many more connections to my teaching career here than in my other workspaces, perhaps because this was the first of the three offices I set up just weeks after leaving the classroom.

GIVING: These photos all revolve around giving—what I see as my most important value.

On the weekend that I took these photos, my husband and I were looking for a place to donate several trash bags full of used clothes and household items. While he suggested that we take our clothes to the local consignment shop pictured in this photo, I was not comfortable with the idea. Part of the reason for my apprehension was because I was intimidated by the idea of someone buying my clothes from me. Secondly, I wanted our items to help others, not make money for us or for a consignment business. Overall, donating to the “Snooty Fox” contradicted my values.

We decided to donate our items to “Meow Mart” instead. This decision was much more in line with my values, because volunteers hold a large garage sale every few months and all of the proceeds go to a local no-kill animal shelter. We both felt better about our decision to donate with this organization instead.

This is a small glass pig that our neighbors brought back for us from a trip to Europe. While they were gone, there was a flood in our building that soaked everything in their storage unit. My husband acted immediately by breaking the lock on their unit, and we quickly got to work removing their belongings to be dried and photographed for insurance purposes. Even though it was my husband’s birthday and we had several guests arriving later that night, we worked diligently to help our neighbors.

This is evidence that I am married to someone with values that strongly match mine. We both enjoy planned activities to help others like community service work, but also hope our friends and neighbors know we are here when we need them as well.

Key Finding: DUALITY

I originally took this photo as evidence of my life as a graduate student since it shows my books and materials for this quarter. However, when I viewed the photograph, something else emerged. What started out as a simple photo actually evidences a complex aspect of my life. Pictured on the floor next to my crate of books are two bags. One is the briefcase that I carry during the week; the other is a quilted patch-work messenger bag that I had used over the weekend.

The image of these two bags sitting next to each other actually represents the duality of my identity during the week (when I am a professional, intern, and student) in juxtaposition to my identity over the weekend (when I am more relaxed and more “myself”). Seeing this picture helped me to recognize and confront this duality, as well as to reflect upon ways that I can help merge these two identities.

This photo is a highlight of this Photovoice project, because it helped me to see that my values are consistent throughout the various parts of my identity.

Key Finding:CONTRADICTION

This photo also demonstrates the power and possibilities of using Photovoice. I took this photo across the street from our condo. It shows a man without a home or job that lives on the street around our home. Since his offer to help us move into our building on our first day downtown, to our most recent hug in CVS, he and I have grown to be friends.

Since my husband and I saw him quite often, we need a name to refer to him in conversation. We dubbed him “TJ”. I took this photo to show evidence of my friendship with “TJ”, because I have several stories about how my interactions with him have shaped my values. However, when I told the story of “TJ” to some friends and explained that “TJ” was short for “Toothless Joe”, I quickly realized that this was a moment in which my actions majorly contradicted my values. How could I be friends with this man if I insulted him behind his back? I resolved to ask him his name.

Over a bag of circus peanuts, he told me his name was “Pokemon”. When I told him my name was “Carri”, he said “No it’s not, it’s Princess”.

Photovoice helped me to reflect on the deeper meaning behind this photograph and set the stage for what would be my life-long goal: to always try to act in accordance with my values.

Did I find my values?

Yes! And the good news is that they were there all along.

This project helped me discover that despite the many identities that I have to assume in order to fulfill all of the “duties” associated with being myself, my values can and do remain consistent.

Areas for further first person action research:

This project was just the first step in a lifetime’s worth of action I will take in reflecting upon myself and my values.

The biggest lesson from this project set the course for what has now become one of my life’s greatest goals...

Defining your values is only the first step, the true challenge and most important work comes from always acting in accordance with those values.

Conclusions:

As I move forward as an action researcher, I will need to constantly reflect on my values and whether my actions and behaviors are consistent with them.

I feel that this is central to the synthesis of action and reflection.

This synthesis is essential to praxis and to action research.

For further information...

Photovoice Websites http://www.photovoice.org/ http://www.photovoice.com/ http://www.photovoice.ca/index.php

Comprehensive List of Action Research Websites available at: http://www.alliance.brown.edu/dnd/ar_websites.shtml