Seeing for Ourselves: Visual methodologies for self-study with teachers in addressing HIV/AIDS.
Claudia Mitchell, June Larkin, Sandra Weber, Naydene de Lange, Lebo Moletsane.
This project is meant to address two main facts of life in rural KwaZulu-Natal:
(1) death and dying as a result of HIV/AIDS, and
(2) a paucity of solutions that recognize the pivotal position of teachers as both infected and affected by AIDS.
Although teachers are potential key players in transforming communities from sites of weekly funerals to sites of change, to date, they have not figured prominently (as solutions at least) in the AIDS crisis in South Africa, even though education itself has been seen as central to the transformation process of the post-apartheid era. The specific objectives of the project include the following:
(1) to explore the role of visual arts-based methodologies (particularly photovoice and video documentary) in facilitating teachers’ own self-study in relation to addressing issues around HIV/AIDS in their local school communities;
(2) to explore the ways in which visual arts-based approaches to self-study can encourage teachers to take an active role in curriculum and community development in relation to HIV and AIDS;
(3) to advance the study of visual arts-based methodologies in education through a focus on technical and ethical issues in relation to documentation and visual data.
