Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2384 - Community engagement | ||||
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Session: 49.5: Community engagement (Parallel) on Friday @ 09.00-10.30 in 202 Chaired by Javier Toledo, Avrom Sherr Authors: Presenting Author: Dr. Armando Matiz - Florida International University, United States |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: This presentation aims to present an ongoing project using the methods of Photovoice ~ a participatory photography methodology that trains disempowered communities in the use of photographic imagery in conjunction with critical analysis to change the minds and perspectives of the particular constituencies ~ in order to describe the day-to-day lives and struggles of injecting drug users in the Dominican Republic. | ||||
| Method / Issue: The approach to this project used a collaboration with a group of heroin users in a poor community in Santo Domingo, who were volunteers and community activists seeking to bring visibility to the daily acts of violence and marginalization, as well as their desperate struggles to obtain clinical treatment for opiates (such as methadone), which are considered illegal in the highly restrictive, "zero tolerance" laws of the Dominican Republic. Participants took pictures of their lives while meeting regularly to discuss the concerns facing their communities, and engaging in technical and philosophical discussions regarding the factors that affect their health and well-being and the best ways to communicate their impact visually. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Pictures taken by participants and the interpretations of their meanings emphasized the struggles to maintain dignity in the context of intersecting stigmas ~ such as those pertaining to deportation, being HIV-positive, or having a history of incarceration ~ and the need to advocate for a rights-based approach to treatment, primary health care, mental health services, and other social services. These poignant visual representations have been produced at a time when many basic premises of the legal and political responses to drugs are undergoing a process of transformation, with the introduction of new possibilities for considering harm reduction approaches, opiate replacement therapy, the establishment of protocols for addressing HIV and drug use in combination, and legal reform of drug laws. The production of images and stories of heroin users that have been historically largely invisible and the exhibition of the gallery functions to spur public dialogue and debate that is grounded in human experiences and struggles that must be addressed if the growing heroin epidemic is to be addressed. | ||||
| Discussion: The use of Photovoice methodology connects creative collective process with applied goals for social change that are grounded in lived realities. We have applied this technique in a highly marginalized and understudied group of injecting drug users in a poor community in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Our critical and applied approach is producing voices that are amplified through intentional artistic productions that aim to shift public debate and introduce new considerations to be addressed by policy makers. Ultimately, this project is contributing to a re-framing of the social and political factors that drive drug abuse, and underscores the tragic lack of systems of support and service provision that are desperately needed for this community. | ||||
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