Using Photography in Studies of Immigrant Communities
In this chapter the author, explains the use of visuals in immigrant commentates and explains how to use techniques to obtain research information. Ethnographic investigations are commonly used to obtain information by interrogation of social life and reflection on applicability of theoretical formulations to real world settings. From ethnography we can use pictures and visuals as mean to obtain data to contribute and describe behavior of immigrant and ethic groups as they adapt to their new environments. In a field study, photographs can be very useful for recording information about people, locations, events , ad interest of researched parties. Building rapport is important to attempt to obtain information from these communities. This can occur with the use of photos, one can take photos and explain to the people of researched communities what one is trying to obtain. One can show pictures to illicit a response or information about those locations or events, using them can create a trust that will let members to speak up about their experiences or thoughts. Also taking pictures of members in those communities can give you an excuse to come back after the film is developed. Photo elicitation can open those conversations even further by asking for their experiences in the photos.
The growth of technology has increased allowing film to be developed at a faster time frame, one can also view images instantly and mass produced. Having technology such as email can let one share the images at a larger scale and keep one connected to the community. Taking photos of communities can say a lot about a communities, can tell about family dynamics people being hired by these communities, if they live in enclaves or if they are willingly hiring other ethnicities.