Dataset 3: Public Photographic Documentation of Participatory Workshops and Assemblies in Eastern Sicily

Description / Abstract This dataset contains photographs documenting participatory workshops and public assemblies conducted in the territory between Augusta and Siracusa between June 2024 and June 2025. The photographs show group activities, workshop settings, materials produced during participatory exercises, collective debates, public encounters, and moments of shared reflection on ecological repair, industrial legacies, environmental justice, and future imaginaries in a late-industrial landscape. The material was produced in the context of collaborative ethnographic research and public anthropology activities developed with local associations, civic groups, activists, residents, artists, and research partners. The photographs document not only the events themselves, but also the methodological infrastructure through which collective reflection was created: circles of discussion, participatory mapping, visual exercises, public presentations, shared writing, and collective analysis. As a visual dataset, these photographs are valuable because they show how ecological repair and climate urgency were discussed, negotiated, and materialised in public and semi-public settings. They document the social and spatial conditions of participation: who gathers, how people arrange themselves, how materials circulate, how maps, post-its, drawings, and workshop outputs become part of collective thinking, and how public debate takes shape around environmental and industrial questions. The photographs are already publicly accessible through the Facebook and Instagram pages of the associations and groups involved in the collaborations. Why the workshop and assembly photographs are valuable for data analysis Documentation of participatory process:The photographs show how workshops and assemblies were organised, facilitated, and collectively inhabited. They help analyse participation not only through what was said, but through spatial arrangements, gestures, materials, and group dynamics. Trace of collective debate:The images document how ecological justice, industrial legacies, contamination, care, work, and future imaginaries became topics of public discussion. They capture moments in which individual concerns were transformed into collective questions. Material evidence of ethnographic experimentation:The photographs show how maps, drawings, post-its, zine pages, workshop prompts, and other visual tools were used to create shared reflection. They are therefore useful for analysing method, not only content. Public anthropology and restitution:Because the images were shared through public association channels, they also document how the research process circulated beyond academic spaces and became part of local public communication. Triangulation with other data:The photographs can be analysed together with fieldnotes, workshop outputs, audio recordings, public statements, zine materials, and participatory maps. They help connect the process of collective work with its visible and material outcomes. How the data can be reused The dataset can be reused for qualitative and visual analysis of participatory research, public anthropology, civic engagement, ecological repair, environmental justice, and collective imagination in late-industrial territories. It can also be used as teaching material for ethnographic experimentation, participatory methods, workshop facilitation, public engagement, visual anthropology, and community-based research. The photographs may support comparative analysis with other participatory research processes addressing climate urgency, industrial transformation, ecological damage, and civic futures. Reuse should remain limited to academic, educational, and non-commercial purposes, and should respect the original context in which the photographs were produced and published. Ethics & rights note The photographs included in this dataset were already published through the Facebook and Instagram pages of the associations and groups involved in the collaborative activities. Before inclusion in the dataset, the material should be reviewed to exclude or restrict images that show minors, vulnerable participants, sensitive personal situations, or contexts where public visibility could create harm. Authorship and rights remain connected to the associations, photographers, organisers, and research partners who produced or published the images. Reuse should credit the original source and should not detach the photographs from the collaborative and local context in which they were created. Public availability does not remove the ethical obligation to avoid misrepresentation, decontextualisation, or harmful reuse.