DEPA – South Africa PhotoVoice

The main aim of the Photovoice Project was to empower youth in townships surrounding Johannesburg to capture and share visual narratives about the factors influencing peace and conflict in their communities. At its core, the Photovoice Project was a form of participatory visual storytelling. It asked young people to use their smartphones as tools for social critique, capturing elements of peace and conflict in their daily lives through the medium of photography.Given that Johannesburg's townships are often perceived through a narrow lens of poverty, crime, and unrest, this initiative provided the youth with an opportunity to reframe the narrative. The power of the Photovoice Project lay not just in the images themselves, but also in the perspectives they revealed—a juxtaposition of resilience and struggle, of unity and discord, all seen through the eyes of the next generation. As part of the project, the youth participants were encouraged to snap photographs that spoke to them, whether it was a moment of community solidarity, the visible impact of systemic inequity, or an instance of violence. The photos ranged from captures of vibrant street art that articulated community aspirations, to more sombre subjects like deserted playgrounds or vigil memorials, each telling a unique story of the circumstances that shape peace and conflict in their lives.The 19 files in this item are the photographs selected by each of the project participants to represent their understanding of peace and conflict in their community.The South Africa Project was one of the original Proof of Concept projects with DEPA (Decolonising Education for Peace in Africa). DEPA was a 4 year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Council (AHRC) addressing the question: What are the different knowledges and values underpinning peace and how can these practices be connected and compared across countries to create curriculum content and mode of delivery in informal and formal settings, Secondary and Higher Education (HE), in order to decolonise peace education?

Photovoice 项目旨在赋权约翰内斯堡周边小镇青年，通过捕捉并分享视觉叙事来描绘影响其社区和平与冲突的因素。该项目本质上是一种参与式视觉叙事的形式。它鼓励青年将智能手机作为社会批判的工具，通过摄影手段记录他们日常生活中和平与冲突的元素。鉴于约翰内斯堡小镇通常被局限于贫困、犯罪和不稳定的狭隘视角，这一倡议为青年提供了重新构建叙事的机会。Photovoice 项目的力量不仅在于图像本身，更在于其所揭示的视角——下一代的韧性与斗争、团结与不和的并置。作为项目的一部分，青年参与者被鼓励捕捉那些触动他们的照片，无论是社区团结的时刻、系统性不平等的可见影响，还是暴力事件的实例。照片从传达社区愿望的充满活力的街头艺术捕捉，到更沉郁的主题，如荒废的游乐场或守夜纪念仪式，每一幅照片都在讲述着塑造他们生活中和平与冲突的独特故事。本项物品中的19个文件是项目参与者选出的照片，用以代表他们对社区中和平与冲突的理解。《南非项目》是 DEPA（非洲和平教育的去殖民化）的原始概念验证项目之一。DEPA 是由艺术与人文研究委员会（AHRC）资助的为期四年的项目，旨在探讨问题：支撑和平的不同知识与价值观是什么？如何将这些实践连接并比较各国，以创建非正式和正式环境、中学和高等教育（HE）的课程内容和教学模式，从而实现和平教育的去殖民化？