Relational Accountability in Indigenizing Visual Research for Participatory Communication

This article attempts to re-focus the discussion about participatory communication by examining elements of an indigenous approach to communication for social change research strategies. It is based on a larger research project undertaken in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Komuniti Tok Piksa (KTP), which sought to explore the use of visual and creative methodologies in HIV prevention. This article focuses on one key part of the project responding to the question of how local narratives and indigenous knowledge can be incorporated most significantly in researching and designing strategies for social issues in a specific socio-cultural context. The argument is that "closer attention must be paid to the relational space that is formed between researchers and researched to create impactful programs and for researchers and project implementers to be accountable for their actions while undertaking participatory communication projects."

To contextualise the approach, the article first provides a brief background to HIV and AIDS communication and presents the challenges specific to PNG. Earlier programmes which focused on mass media campaigns might have been counter-productive, reinforcing fear about HIV and hence increasing discrimination and stigma against those living with HIV. These campaigns lacked an understanding of local narratives and processes. Moving away from mass media campaigns, a few initiatives sought to use the arts as a means of both awareness and research. For example, in the VSO Tokaut AIDS Awareness Community Theatre Project, the visual quality of theatre defied language barriers, as messages were played out to reflect to communities their realities.

Along those lines, the KTP project was designed to strengthen the level of community ownership and identification in HIV prevention materials by exploring and capturing local narratives. It was guided by an indigenous (Melanesian) approach. Previous studies explain that Melanesian culture is strongly based on personal relationships, and these relationships are key to any social change processes in the communities. The focal point of Melanesian societies is the community or the clan/wantok. Wantok in Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin) means "One Talk", the ones who speak the same language and, thus, share their same clan, tribe, and culture. Loyalty to one's community often takes priority over individual preferences. Through various relationships, people are taken care of, and in turn, they have a series of obligations to the community. Thus, in KTP, "[c]ollaboration between researcher, potentially co-researchers, and research participants becomes a necessary element. KTP researchers are themselves local or have links to these communities through their formal and informal networks (wantok system), enabling, thus, their entry to the communities and facilitating communication based on common background." To achieve this, KTP carefully reviewed and managed researchers' relationships with community members.

Given the linguistic diversity in PNG and a previous focus on pamphlets and billboards as HIV and AIDS prevention strategies, KTP draws on arts-based methods that address emotional and embodied elements of decision-making processes. KTP uses a process that strengthens the idea of identification and involves the screening back of material within the community. The process of viewing oneself has been described as empowering and raising self-confidence among participants. Incorporating the visual approach with an understanding of Melanesian values confirms Bourriaud's (2002) concept of relational aesthetics that focuses on the way art-making builds relationships with others and with the world. Bourriaud believes that collaborative art and media making provide a space to explore these relations and our identity as it evolves through them. Here, relations, not media objects, are primary.

The authors then illustrate the methodological foundation for the study, exploring aspects of visual research and participatory action research (PAR) for social change before discussing the relevant components of an indigenous research approach focusing on the concept of relational accountability. The PAR cycle (observe-reflect-plan-act) was activated in consultation with the participant community and other members. Following initial observation, a baseline study, and community reflection and discussion, a specific set of actions was designed. The main steps in the research process included the 8 stages mentioned in Table 1. In short, KTP involves communities narrating their experiences in regard to HIV and AIDS and assists them in designing and recording their own messages. Local researchers are trained in using visual tools to facilitate this engagement with the communities. In the first phase of KTP, researcher teams traveled to 10 Highlands communities to establish projects. The open approach meant that in each community, the creative processes varied. The level of participation was determined by the communities, whether they contributed to the visual products by being interviewed, telling their own stories, or actively participating in taking pictures. Toward the latter stages of the process, the research team, supervised by the principal researcher, recorded community narratives or facilitated, where appropriate, creative workshops. For example, some communities produced a film based on a dramatised story, and others created a song. The filmed data were then digitised and edited on-site, involving participants. "Communities feel valued when their ideas are recorded. The open approach to let the participants guide the creative process allowed the researchers to better understand community perceptions including scenarios of risky behavior." Once the product was prepared, the community was invited for a collective viewing. Following the screening, the researchers facilitated community discussion focusing on the issues raised by the visual outcome. "The viewing of the Ruti film drama stimulated important community discussion among audiences. The product therefore serves as a stimulator within the local context."

KTP put an emphasis on building relationships and entering reciprocal spaces of exchange between researchers and research participants. The need for reflection on their personal experiences and knowledge prior to this project and how they relate to their role in the project was an important process for the local researchers. Approaches and frameworks were negotiated, developed, and re-configured by the various groups and communities involved. This moves the focus of discussion to the relational accountability of the researcher and his or her ability to negotiate a space where various levels of participation emerge. Relational accountability becomes thus an indicator for ethical research practice. This enabled the researcher to talk to participants about their uncertainties (e.g., money) and plan for the future. The ongoing dialogue, including simple acts of communication, such as wishing goodnight over the phone, added value to the relationship. "Refocusing the researcher's actions on his or her relational accountability introduces a new perspective into the research process. This approach also opens up a space for creative collaboration. Once trust has been build in the community and consent has been obtained for the participants to take part in the research, a creative process begins. The building of the relationships provides a space for creative collaboration. Hence, certain groups within the participating communities came forward with their ideas in regard to films, photography, and music."

"The article has argued that for HIV/AIDS communication to be successful, appropriate communication channels need to be opened up. This begins with the way connections to members of the community are established and how building trusting-relationships with participants can provide access to local narratives. This can be achieved by following indigenous approaches to research and media practices prioritizing relational accountability of researchers and participants. Here, the goal has been to mobilize the community to participate and debate their views and for them to take ownership of HIV messages and solutions to the HIV epidemic. Understanding participatory communication from a relational perspective can assist researchers to frame understandings of participation and engages them in an ethical process reviewing their own involvement with the community."

Framed another way, this article has shown that "[e]ngaging with the community in a meaningful way is very important as all interactions have underlining meanings that intricately connect everyone and everything in the microcosm of these Highland's communities. In linking such a research approach to issues like HIV and AIDS, and finding ways of potentially making awareness effective, both researcher and community must be collaborative agents of change, understanding how a community in transition values gutpela sindaun [Tok Pisin for well-being] and especially how they interpret it. The technology and all it entails can become a tool for opening a space for communication for social change and participatory communication..."

Five years after the project started, the audio-visual materials continue to be distributed in PNG and the wider Pacific, and the research team continues to negotiate relationships with community members who are involved in the distribution of the material.